FAU Stadium may still be nameless, but it shouldn’t be without recognition for much longer.
According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, FAU and Conference USA are close to reaching a deal that would bring a newly-created bowl game to Boca Raton, starting in 2014.
FAU Athletic Director Pat Chun confirmed that talks are heating up, and a formal announcement is on the horizon.
“We can offer something here that really no one else in the country can offer,” Chun told WPEC CBS 12. “So all the pieces are falling into place, I can assure you of that, and our goal here is to make some sort of announcement in the next few weeks.”
Chun says the “ideal circumstance” is to have the “Boca Bowl” televised nationally while the Owls potentially compete in a bowl game at another venue. The exposure would be two-fold for FAU, who joined C-USA in 2013 and will have at least seven of their football games televised this season.
ESPN is expected to own the rights to the “Boca Bowl,” which teams from either the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West or Mid-American Conference will take part in.
On Tuesday, C-USA signed a new six-year agreement with its six primary bowl games –– R&L Carriers New Orleans, Gildan New Mexico, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces and Heart of Dallas.
C-USA is also close to forming the “Bahamas Bowl,” which would be the first bowl contest held outside the United States since 2007.
“We hope to have something completed in the next two weeks,” Lea Miller, creator of the Bahamas Bowl, told McMurphy.