An uncertain future for the Houston Bowl

A few weeks after we had news thtat the Houston Bowl was sorta directionless, the Chronicle's Big 12 blog is reporting that nothing's really changed, and the game might take a year off or become one of the Big 12's bowls.

Nothing has been revealed, but what we're hearing involves the Big 12 taking over the 6-year-old bowl game. The game would be No. 8 in the pecking order and would have to reduce its payout from $1.2 million to about $750,000 per team.

Here's something else to consider: There also is a chance the Houston Bowl could take a year off to re-organize and return in 2007. If the Houston Bowl is not part of the Big 12's lineup in 2006, the only bowl with an open slot is the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. That game currently matches a team from the Mountain West against an at-large opponent.

The Houston Bowl has had no sponsor since EV1.net's deal ended last year, and the bowl still owes the Big 12 and the Mountain West $600,000 each for playing in last year's game. There are other problems, too, namely the 41,276 average attendance over the bowl's six-year life. Officials blame that on the timing of the game — the last week in December — and the lack of community support. Yep, for some reason Houstonians generally don't seem too excited about heading out to see teams like Colorado and UTEP, the 2005 matchup. (Even Colorado and UTEP fans weren't into it: We remember hearing that a lot of their tickets went unsold.)

Big 12 officials reportedly support continuing to have a bowl in Houston. Under the current setup, the bowl is affiliated with the Big 12, Conference USA, Big East and Notre Dame.