BYU Football: Could the Cougars sign with a second Las Vegas bowl?
By Shaun Gordon
A second bowl game may be coming to Las Vegas starting in 2020. This could be big news for BYU Football as they look toward the next decade of bowl tie-ins.
BYU Football has a deep tie to Las Vegas, especially when it comes to bowl games.
The Las Vegas Bowl began in 1992. That’s 26 times the game has been played, and the Cougars have played in six of them. That’s the most of any team.
Things are changing in 2020, though. The bowl’s contract with UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium is up that year, as is the contract with the PAC-12 and Mountain West Conference.
There are rumblings that the bowl will switch locations to the new stadium being build to house the Las Vegas Raiders, once they make their move from Oakland. With that switch, the bowl would likely attract better conference tie-ins. Right now, rumors point to a matchup between the PAC-12 and the SEC.
The Las Vegas Bowl is just one of many bowls that will be in flux at that point. Plus, the NCAA just announced that three new bowls can begin play in 2020 as well.
One of those game seems to be a lock to end up in Chicago, and Myrtle Beach (SC) seems to be the frontrunner for another one.
The third new bowl is up in the air, but a new name has come forward as a possibility to host it.
Las Vegas.
Among the options that the bowl’s leadership presented to the Raiders is the possibility of hosting two bowl games instead of just one.
In that situation, one premier game would host two Power 5 teams, while the other could be similar to what the Las Vegas Bowl is right now.
If that’s the case, then the Mountain West could keep a slot in Las Vegas, and it would open up possibilities for other conferences and teams.
Like BYU.
Decisions…Decisions
With the changes coming in 2020 all over the bowl landscape, the Cougars are in a good position to go in multiple directions.
First, they could sign a long-term deal with one bowl game, giving them stability in their postseason play.
Or they could use the changes to sign a series of yearly deals with different bowl games. That’s what they’ve been doing so far in independence, and it’s worked fairly well.
Either way, a second bowl game in Vegas could be a good partnership for the Cougars.
They’d be an attractive team for the bowl to sign for a long-term deal. BYU fans have flocked to Las Vegas for each of the Cougars’ bowl appearances, and that’s not likely to change.
Even if they only sign a few games with the new bowl, it would be a quality bowl game in an NFL stadium, close enough for a lot of BYU fans to attend.
The possibilities are endless for the Cougars when the calendar flips to 2020.
And a second bowl in Sin City could quickly move to the top of that list.