[Farm93]

Where have you been?  This has been known for months!

Assume for the moment that no Pac-10 team goes to the BCS.
And assume that the preseason hype has correctly called that OSU, Oregon and USC are a cut above the 4-8 crowd.  That would mean that the fourth place finisher would get a trip to the Holiday Bowl.   Pretty sweet!

Last year the Sun Bowl sold out, but that had A LOT to do with Oklahoma.  I would guess that the worst case scenario for the Pac-10 and the Alamo Bowl is for Stanford to be the first Pac-10 team in the game.  It is a pure numbers game.  Stanford has the smallest alumni base and very few non-alums willing to travel more than 20 miles to see a game.

I suspect the fear was that every Pac-10 school would not travel well, but that the local football loving crowd will pack the house anyway.  (The game means a lot to San Antonio)  The quality of Pac-10 play, and the opportunity to land a #2 team, likely ranked in the top 10-15, were likely the Pac-10 selling points.  Utah and Colorado likely would travel in numbers to San Antonio, but that is a different story.

I can only guess how the possibility of expansion helped land the San Antonio deal.  

[Farm93]

Where have you been?  This has been known for months!

Assume for the moment that no Pac-10 team goes to the BCS.
And assume that the preseason hype has correctly called that OSU, Oregon and USC are a cut above the 4-8 crowd.  That would mean that the fourth place finisher would get a trip to the Holiday Bowl.   Pretty sweet!

Last year the Sun Bowl sold out, but that had A LOT to do with Oklahoma.  I would guess that the worst case scenario for the Pac-10 and the Alamo Bowl is for Stanford to be the first Pac-10 team in the game.  It is a pure numbers game.  Stanford has the smallest alumni base and very few non-alums willing to travel more than 20 miles to see a game.

I suspect the fear was that every Pac-10 school would not travel well, but that the local football loving crowd will pack the house anyway.  (The game means a lot to San Antonio)  The quality of Pac-10 play, and the opportunity to land a #2 team, likely ranked in the top 10-15, were likely the Pac-10 selling points.  Utah and Colorado likely would travel in numbers to San Antonio, but that is a different story.

I can only guess how the possibility of expansion helped land the San Antonio deal.