Murphy: Future is now for H-Bowl

The Roady's Humanitarian Bowl slogan - "You've got to be tough to play here" - reflects the harshness of the conditions that teams face when they come to Boise. Bowl games, after all, originated as a way to visit a warm-weather city in the middle of the winter.

But the game, which will host its 12th annual meeting Tuesday when Nevada and Maryland meet at Bronco Stadium, has itself been pretty tough. Tough enough to survive when other postseason games in the West folded. Tough enough to survive the typical sponsorship changes that affect most non-BCS bowl games. Tough enough to survive without Boise State in the game four of the last five years.

Entering its adolescence, the Humanitarian Bowl is preparing for major changes that organizers hope will allow it to do more than survive.

This is the final year of the bowl's contract with the ACC. The deal, which provides the No. 8 selection from the ACC to the game, has served the bowl well, attracting big-name program to the blue turf and giving the game access to major television markets on the East Coast. The league has sent a representative to the bowl seven times, including the Terrapins. One of the reasons the game selected Maryland for this year's is because it brings the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. television markets.

But what the ACC teams (outside of Clemson) have not been able to do is bring fans to Boise. To be fair, the game's WAC partners (outside of Boise State) haven't exactly been filling the stands, either, thus leaving it to the Treasure Valley's college football fans to fill the stadium. Nevada and Maryland are expected to bring between 1,200 and 1,400 fans combined to Tuesday's games - not exactly conducive to a festive atmosphere.

That's why the next three months could be the most important in the recent history of the game.

Executive director Kevin McDonald has had discussions with the Pac-10 and the Mountain West conferences about signing long-term contracts with the bowl game beginning in 2010. Nearly every bowl is negotiating new conference affiliations beginning with the 2010 season. The bowl game will have the fourth pick from the Mountain West in 2009, a one-year bridge agreement.

The long-term deal has a chance to reshape the bowl. The game has a chance to enhance its profile in the city and the college football landscape.

"It does give us an opportunity to evaluate what happens next, what happens with the next long-term conference agreement, how long it will be, who it will be with," said McDonald, in his second year as the game's executive director. "We definitely will be involved with more of a regional conference."

In the off-season, McDonald will also explore the possibility of changing the bowl's financial agreements so that the incoming conference is more of a partner with the game.

More ambitiously, he would like to see the WAC change its bowl selection structure to an ordered process (based on standings) as opposed to the current placement process (based on geography and what makes sense). Given the league's bowl tie-ins in Hawaii and New Mexico, it is unlikely that will change.

So the focus remains on finding a new conference - and a new partner that will be invested in the bowl. McDonald's plan would allow the conferences to earn money if the bowl reaches monetary or ticket-sales level, giving the leagues a chance to make money on the back end.

Either conference -McDonald believes it is "likely" to be the Pac-10 or the Mountain West - would be a better fit and help draw fans to Boise, bringing more of a bowl atmosphere to the game.

"We see an opportunity for teams to travel their bands better, an opportunity for fans to really be able to come to the game and cheer for their team," McDonald said. "It's nice to go to a stadium and see fans from both teams. They're really an active part of the game."

Bringing more fans to the game would obviously help ticket sales, which in turn could lead to bigger payouts for the participating teams and leagues. The bowl landscape continues to get more crowded - the NCAA approved two more games for the 2008 bowl season bringing the total to 34 - so bowl games are facing a more competitive environment even as economic conditions make it tougher.

McDonald said he is confident in the game's agreement with Roady's Truck Stops, which is in the second year of a three-year contract, and believes it could be extended. The game is a non-profit but wants to be financially solvent to operate and staff throughout the year.

Think you've got a lot on your plate this holiday season?

In the next three months -though McDonald said the timetable continues to change and could extend into the summer - the Humanitarian Bowl will redefine itself and shape its future.

Brian Murphy: 377-6444