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Home > Archive > Aug 9, 2007

New Matchups Planned for 2008 Rotary Bowl
By Stephen Vincent
One of the principal reasons why the Rotary Club started the Dixie Rotary Bowl 21 years ago was to bring increased exposure to the St. George area.
Rotary Bowl officials are expecting a recent change to do just that.
Starting in 2008, the Rotary Bowl will feature the top non-playoff teams from the Great Northwestern Athletic Conference and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The people who organize the bowl game believe this change could bring more exposure to the bowl game and the community. In particular, Rotary Bowl officials are optimistic that the new matchup will bring more fans.
“Instead of averaging between 3,000 and 4,000 like we did when it was a junior college bowl, we expect to average between 6,000 and 10,000 fans,” Richard Isom, spokesperson for the bowl game, said.
Currently, the largest attendance at a Rotary Bowl was 8,000 for the 1999 NJCAA national championship game between Dixie and Butler County Community College, from Kansas. BCCC's Rudi Johnson, now the running back for the Cincinnati Bengals, had a big day, helping BCCC win the game, 49-35.
Gary Benson, the executive director of the bowl, said one of the goals of the Rotary Bowl is to fill Hansen Stadium when it is expanded to a capacity of 12,000.
When the change is implemented in 2008, the Rotary Bowl will see several changes.
First, when the 2008 season begins, Dixie State will have to earn its place in the Rotary Bowl – no longer will an invitation to the bowl game be guaranteed. The Rebels, who will play in the GNAC, will need to be the top non-playoff team in that conference to qualify for an invitation.
Secondly, Benson believes that the agreement with two conferences to send their top non-playoff team will give the Rotary Bowl some leverage among the other Div. II bowls. Benson said he would like to see the Rotary Bowl one day play host to the Div. II national championship.
The way Div. II crowns its champion is different from the way the Div. I-A champion is decided. Instead of relying on the bowl system and polls, Div. II features a 16-team single-elimination tournament to decide which school wins the national championship.
The Rotary Bowl is one of three Div. II bowls in existence, Benson said, and the scant options for post-season play in Div. II make an invitation to a bowl game like Rotary Bowl more meaningful to schools.
“The conferences are excited because a lot of excellent teams get left out of the playoff system,” Isom said.
Thirdly, by pitting two regional conferences against each other, the Rotary Bowl officials say they are hoping the increased exposure opens up opportunities to bring in regional and national media, and even having the game broadcast regionally or even nationally.
That's a goal that could be aided by their affiliation with the two conferences. One RMAC game this year between the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Chadron State College will be broadcast nationally on CSTV. That game is being broadcast as part of an NCAA program to get more Div. II games on the air, according to an RMAC press release.
Finally, the increased attendance will bring more revenue to the bowl game. The Rotary Club uses the money it raises from the Rotary Bowl to fund service projects around the St. George area.
The more money the club raises, the more service projects it can do. The club has been involved in several projects at Dixie State, including the construction of the Encampment Mall and installing the artificial turf football field. The club has also placed kiosks along the St. George trail system, made improvements at Dixie High's baseball field and funded the St. George Skate Park, according to a Rotary Club press release.
“The bowl provides a great economic benefit for the community,” Jim Coleman, a former executive director of the bowl game, said. “It creates consumer dollars that are spent in the community, and it also funds the money we can use for projects.”
The Rotary Bowl, however, remains one of the club's biggest undertakings.
Benson said 200 people volunteer at the Rotary Bowl each year, and Isom said he estimates it takes thousands of hours to plan for the bowl game and its festivities, which include a banquet and parade.
All those hours of dedication have been needed since the bowl made the move from a junior college bowl to a Div. II bowl last year, Benson said.
“You don't realize how much time goes into it until you get involved in it,” he said. “It's like we had to start the bowl all over again.”
The football-playing members of the RMAC Conference are Adams State, Chadron State, Colorado Mines, Fort Lewis, Mesa State, New Mexico Highlands, Nebraska-Kearney, Western New Mexico and Western State.
The GNAC, which will recommence its football division in 2008, has five football members right now: Dixie State, Humboldt State, Western Oregon, Central Washington and Western Washington. The GNAC dropped football after the 2005 season, but the league has picked up the sport again after the North Central Conference announced its plans to disband.
The other DSC sports play in the Pacific West Conference.

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