Pizza Pizza Bowl Fires Back!

Submitted by TrppWlbrnID on

it sounds like the Little Caesar's / Illich family will not cede their college football bowl turf to the Fords so easily, announcing that they will explore a college bowl game at Comerica Park.

i can't imagine that the B1G would put another team in Detroit for the bowl season, but this would give all of us  up-north man-ball damn-the-weather tough-talkers a chance to go to a game outdoors in Detroit in January or December. the way the college football bowl schedule works with games starting around the 20th of december and some played up until the 10th of january, the games could be far enough apart to not overly fatigue metro Detroit football fans. and surely the Lions will be dead in the water by then.

Surprised to read that there were over 60,000 on hand for Purdue vs Central in 2007, but that last year with a blizzard on the way, there were only 23k for CMU-WKy.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130521/SPORTS0101/305210366/Little-Caesars-might-look-Comerica-Park-Lions-get-new-bowl-game?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

can't we all just get along? or at least alternate years?

Bodogblog

May 21st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

I was considering if I'd even want to go to NYC to see a bowl game, and I love New York.  I decided yes, it would be a great weekend - spend it in NYC, see a bowl game colder than balls

But outdoors in Detroit?  Can't be serious. 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

May 21st, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^

"Over 60,000" is no doubt the paid attendance; I went to the Purdue-CMU game and while it was very well-attended, it didn't put more than about 45,000 butts in the seats.  And that had a lot more to do with CMU than a Big Ten team.  At least two Chip fans for every Boilermaker.

WMU81

May 21st, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^

Bring in good teams and nobody will care what the bowl is named or where it is located.. Two really good teams playing outside in snow would be sweet. I say we bring a SEC school up here for once.

turtleboy

May 21st, 2013 at 5:15 PM ^

I think last years low attendance numbers had less to do with the blizzard threat, and more to do with the fanbases. 23,000 was literally all of the CMU and WKy fans combined.

MgoRayO3313

May 22nd, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^

I went to the game and low attendance was defiantly because of the blizzard. By no means would have been a sell out, but if I had to guess they would have had 30,000. Central has a decent following and since cheap tickets are widely available for this event many families and teams attend the game. The blizzard was terrible, but I felt the city did the best job they possibly could to make it a good showing despite the 9 inches of snow on the ground. It was a terrible drive.

DISCUSS Man

May 21st, 2013 at 6:10 PM ^

They need to have punishment bowls. The two worst teams play in Bangor, Maine. Last place B1G vs last place PAC-12 at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho and etc. Playing football in Michigan in December is a huge punishment. In fact, I am inspired now to write a MGoDiary featuring punishment bowls using last years standings.

CRex

May 21st, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^

Okay, so I have to ask, what is so great about Commerica?  Aside from Illitch having ownership there.  Detroit as a host city is a terrible choice.  This is not to bag on Detroit, but the reality is unless you are a local and know where the cool places/safe zones are, it has to be one of the worst cities in the country to visit.  It's not a friendly town for dropping in and visiting.  If you are a tourist, you go to Slows, the Art Museum, and then what?  Drive to Dearborn to see the Henry Ford I guess.

There is the Silverdome which is umh still in exsistance, but of course Pontiac isn't much more attractive than Detroit and the Silverdome still doesn't have its new roof.  

I'd say do it in the Big House over Christmas Break.  The town is pretty empty and thus tourist friendly.  Plus the Big House has managed to attract 80k+ for the winter hockey games, so clearly the locals don't mind the cold or at least don't mind freezing for a decent venue.  The only really issue would be if we're playing in a NYD Bowl, which we will of course, then Hoke might want the Big House for practices during the week.  

 

M-Wolverine

May 22nd, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^

I mean, it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think you feel like you're anywhere unique or special in it. Not like Tigers Stadium. It's pretty modern entertainment cookie cutter. And would be pretty bad for football sight line wise.

Don't think you'd have much conflict with Michigan practice.  The bowl is usually played right after Christmas and Michigan is gone to the bowl site usually by then. 

BlueDragon

May 22nd, 2013 at 7:23 AM ^

I wonder how much alcohol I would need before attending an outdoor game in January. A decent amount and a scarf, thick coat/hat/gloves and I'm good to go!