ESPN, Fort Worth, Texas, Expect to Benefit from College Football Bowl Game.

Publication: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Byline: Bob Cox

Dec. 23--As the city leaders of Pasadena, Calif., discovered long ago, hosting a college football bowl game can be a great undertaking -- a way to gain national attention for the host city and bring in buckets of tourist revenue.

There's another motivation at play in tonight's inaugural PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl. It generates programming and advertising revenue for its creator and operator, ESPN.

"We believe the game will be profitable year one in Fort Worth," said Pete Derzis, senior vice president of ESPN Regional Television.

The Fort Worth Bowl is the third college bowl game launched in recent years by ESPN Regional Television, a subsidiary of the sports network that reaches 87 million U.S. homes.

The Las Vegas Bowl, which will be contested Wednesday, is in its third season, and the Hawaii Bowl, schedule for Thursday, is in its second.

Local organizers think the made-for-TV game will be a big plus for Fort Worth, with millions of viewers likely to tune in to ESPN.

As for potential tourist revenue, the meeting between the nationally ranked TCU Horned Frogs and Boise State Broncos at Amon G. Carter Stadium is something less than a dream matchup. Neither TCU, a Fort Worth school, nor distant Boise State will be cheered by legions of out-of-town fans...

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