Live United Bowl Game Gone... can another take its place?

[NewHaven Alum]

Well, it is a great idea to have these bowl-games for many reasons however, if any school decided not to participate, they don't have to be part of it correct?

[BisonBones]

This is from the linked story, a quote from Allen Brown, President of the Live United Bowl. "I think the disappointing thing, that we talk about a lot, it's not really supported by our local community. Always with a goal of putting on a first-class event, it has become more expensive and challenging to live up to the standards we have set."

Having the game in Little Rock would help with this lack of community support. Little Rock is a much bigger city than Texarkana with more resources and opportunities the players to do fun things and community outreach. I would imagine all the Arkansas schools would love a long weekend of their student-athletes pushing their school as an alternative to Arkansas or UALR. Additionally, having it in Little Rock would help it have statewide appeal. It's closer to all of the GAC Arkansas schools. There's certainly many more alumni of the Arkansas GAC schools in Little Rock than in Texarkana.


I bet there are some people in Little Rock who would love to bring a D1 bowl game to the city. Maybe you could sell this as an alternative or a stepping stone to hosting a D1 game? The D1 bowl games are pretty saturated, though.

I loved this past post-season when the Heritage Bowl awarded SNU for their milestone of having their first winning season. I believe the Florida Beach Bowl awarded teams with higher GPAs. I love the idea of awarding schools for real accomplishments that are different than making the playoffs for being the best in the conference/region. That's the niche D2 bowl games should be filling.

[BisonBones]

Little Rock might be thinking too big, in my opinion. Look at the locations of most other D2 bowls: Texarkana, AR, Excelsior Springs, MO, Corsicana, TX, Hobart, IN. All smaller cities with about 20k people that stood to benefit from an event like a D2 bowl game happening there. My understanding is that these games are like community events, and with how big of a city Little Rock is, I don't see a D2 bowl game there has something a lot of people would rally behind given how much else is going on there

You make a good point, but also Little Rock is big enough to have several communities within it. Having a large population means you need to get a smaller percentage to support the event. There's definitely a good Harding presence in the city spread out between a few of the larger churches of Christ; there's definitely more alumni from all of the Arkansas GAC schools in Little Rock than in Texarkana.

And Little Rock is in an awkward spot. It's also too small to host a D1 game, probably. It does hosts an Arkansas Razorback game once a year, but with the D1 bowl games being saturated, I doubt Little Rock could attract a bowl game. Maybe doing an FCS bowl over a D3 bowl could get alumni from UAPB and Central Arkansas interested?

[BisonBones]

Interesting comments and replies. I would like to turn this thread back to the original concept of some other location to take the up the matter of host a D2 Bowl Game. I offered Little Rock and still see it as a great location. The Little Rock Touchdown Club hosts the Harlon Hill Award. Does anyone here have input to this group to consider helping to start a bowl game there? The GAC and the LR Touchdown Club works together to host the game and finds a sponsor. Maybe even the United Way of Central Arkansas and continue with the "Live United Bowl" name and concept.

If you have contact/input with the presidents of the GAC schools and to the GAC commissioner, get the word out and get them to thinking about continuing the bowl game. Losts of teams/conferences to pull from the states that border Arkansas

And consider the original idea of also hosting a D3 bowl game as well as the D2 game.

Maybe they could tie the bowl game to World Cheese Dip Championship in Little Rock? It takes place in October, but they could move it a month. The city tries to make cheese dip a distinct thing about Little Rock and Arkansas. They could do the same with small college football with the history of the former AIC programs.

[Turbonium]

I can't imagine being so sensitive that I'd complain about people organizing a football game, let alone projecting that sensitivity onto the people organizing and playing the game

Not sure what's seen as complaining or sensitive here. It's simply an opinion that post season play is watered down by having these bowl games even though there's already a system in place to reward teams that earned a playoff spot.

Enjoy the capri-suns though.

[BisonBones]

Not sure what's seen as complaining or sensitive here. It's simply an opinion that post season play is watered down by having these bowl games even though there's already a system in place to reward teams that earned a playoff spot.

Enjoy the capri-suns though.

This post is the first time you've stated anything about an opinion on competition being watered down. I don't know exactly what you mean by "watered down". It's not like the resources or media time or anything else used for the Live United Bowl will now be used for playoff games. It just means less football.

[Tech Boys]

FBS: 133 teams / 84 postseason participants - 63.2%

FCS: 102* teams / 24-team bracket - 23.5%
*102 not counting MEAC, SWAC, and Ivy who are not championship participants

D2: 164* teams / 28-team bracket - 17.1%
*164 including future teams

I agree with the "everyone gets a trophy" in FBS. Being a bit old school; yes, a bowl game should be a reward for a good season and not just because you won 6 games.

FCS isn't too bad and D2 definitely does not land in the everyone gets a trophy category. I'd like to see a 32-team bracket and each conference host a bowl game. That's 64 D2 teams in a postseason event or 39.0% and it still leaves 100 teams sitting at home.

[Turbonium]

This post is the first time you've stated anything about an opinion on competition being watered down. I don't know exactly what you mean by "watered down". It's not like the resources or media time or anything else used for the Live United Bowl will now be used for playoff games. It just means less football.

Everyone gets a trophy = post season play is watered down. If more football is the only goal then just let everyone play through the national championship game.

[SW_Mustang]

Everyone gets a trophy = post season play is watered down. If more football is the only goal then just let everyone play through the national championship game.

Let's do some math.

28 teams go to the playoffs. 6 teams participate in bowl games. Google says there's 162 DII teams.

20.9% of DII participates in post season play. That's nowhere near "watered down."

You're absolutely entitled to your opinion, but sharing it in a thread about bowl games might not be the best place if you are looking for people to agree with you.

[SW_Mustang]

FBS: 133 teams / 84 postseason participants - 63.2%

FCS: 102* teams / 24-team bracket - 23.5%
*102 not counting MEAC, SWAC, and Ivy who are not championship participants

D2: 164* teams / 28-team bracket - 17.1%
*164 including future teams

I agree with the "everyone gets a trophy" in FBS. Being a bit old school; yes, a bowl game should be a reward for a good season and not just because you won 6 games.

FCS isn't too bad and D2 definitely does not land in the everyone gets a trophy category. I'd like to see a 32-team bracket and each conference host a bowl game. That's 64 D2 teams in a postseason event or 39.0% and it still leaves 100 teams sitting at home.

The now-defunct Mineral Water Bowl put the top two teams in the NSIC/MIAA who didn't make the playoffs against each other. I remember teams would have to get 7-or-8 wins just to be in-consideration. Given that the FBS gives out bowl appearances for 50%, that's not too bad.

The game functioned (hypothetically) as a reward for up-and-coming programs and could be very influential for teams that made it. Fans enjoyed it, and it was also a rare opportunity (at the time) for an OOC game for the NSIC (not sure how the MIAA scheduled back then).

Obviously the MIAA dropped participation in the Bowl and then it was discontinued due to the pandemic.

I don't think every team should be given an opportunity either - but rewarding teams that went through the grind and just missed the playoffs isn't the end of the world. It had no impact on the playoff structure and was largely only for the teams/fans of that school. The bowl game is very much missed.

[Mulerider]

Would love to see a FCS or D2 All Star game in Little Rock.

[UCObluejay]

What is a stadium in Little Rock that can host a D2 bowl? Don't say War Memorial Stadium it is too big. I am still annoyed that there are people who can say "D2 is so irrelevant their championship game is at a high school stadium." If they can get a D2 championship game and support it, that might be a plus.

[Mulerider]

What is a stadium in Little Rock that can host a D2 bowl? Don't say War Memorial Stadium it is too big. I am still annoyed that there are people who can say "D2 is so irrelevant their championship game is at a high school stadium." If they can get a D2 championship game and support it, that might be a plus.

It's just a great centrally located place to host a game. Great video board and a decent press box. Cheaper to host and to attend than in a place like Dallas/St. Louis. More desirable than Memphis as well. They could just close off the end zones if they wanted to.

[UCObluejay]

I'm not arguing against Little Rock in general. I think WMS is too big. If you want to close off the end zones then a lot of G5 schools can say the same. If someone said Skelly Stadium in Tulsa (30K) capacity. I would still argue that it is slightly too big. It needs to be in a 10-15 K seat stadium.