The Tempe City Council and Valley of the Sun Bowl Foundation announced Thursday that the Insight Bowl will move to Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium in 2006 for an 8-year run. A contract formalizing the deal is expected to be signed next Tuesday.
John Junker, president and CEO of the Insight Bowl, said that the game's new position as a battleground for teams from the high-profile Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences required that a bigger venue be found for the event than its current home, Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. BOB maxes out at around 45,000 seats for football games.
"We think there's a need to keep building the size of the crowd and Sun Devil Stadium gives us the upside capacity to do that," Junker said.
The move comes in the nick of time. Tempe is losing the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl to Glendale in 2006, when the prospective Cardinals stadium opens for business there. The Fiesta Bowl has been held at Sun Devil Stadium since 1971, and the loss of it could translate to losing thousands of sports fans and the associated millions of dollars in potential tourist income.
Junker also said the move would lead to a larger payout for the teams playing the bowl. Since a larger number of seats would be filled at Sun Devil Stadium than at BOB, this would help create more income with which to pay the teams.
Scott Schoeffler, vice president of media relations for the Insight Bowl, said that the city of Tempe will assist in financing these payouts.
Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu.
