The way Cotton Bowl Classic executive director Rick Baker traces the family tree, his game is one of the Rose Bowl’s many descendants.
“We wouldn’t exist without the Rose Bowl,” Baker said.
Back in 1936, oilman and sports promoter J. Curtis Sanford journeyed to the West Coast to watch SMU play Stanford in the Rose Bowl and wondered why Dallas couldn’t have a game like that. A year later, through Sanford’s determination and despite considerable skepticism, the Cotton Bowl debuted.
Now the Cotton Bowl and AT&T Stadium, along with the College Football Playoff, are part of the plan to help the COVID-19-displaced Rose Bowl. As usual, AT&T Stadium will host the Cotton Bowl between No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Florida on Wednesday. The Rose Bowl — or whatever it will be called, with the naming in question — will feature a CFP semifinal between No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame on Friday.
“Just paying it forward,” Baker said.
Said Classic chairman Bry Patton: “Our intent is to be just as supportive as we can be.”
Within the next week, two major bowls, four quality teams, hundreds of staff and volunteers and one impromptu hotel bubble will try to help the postseason safely navigate the COVID-19 landscape.
Planning ahead
After decades running events ranging from March Madness to the CFP, playoff executive director Bill Hancock realizes the importance of a backup plan.
“I always like to have something in my back pocket,” Hancock said.
A couple of weeks ago, Hancock approached Baker with a concern.
COVID-19 cases were on the rise in California along with a diminishing supply of hospital beds.
“I just said, ‘Would you be available?’ not thinking it would ever happen but wanting to have a plan,” Hancock said.
Like Hancock, Baker understood the situation but didn’t expect it to reach that point. He made a few phone calls to the right people with the Cowboys, with the Cotton Bowl and with AT&T Stadium, and said everybody would be willing to help out.
“Right from the beginning, we were willing to help, hoping they wouldn’t need us and hoping it would stay in Pasadena,” Baker said. “But we were certainly ready, willing and able if called upon.”
Because the Cotton Bowl is Wednesday, that provides a tight but doable one-day window before the Rose Bowl. Plus, the Cotton Bowl is part of the New Year’s Six bowls, and AT&T Stadium hosted the first CFP championship game in January 2015.
“We of course have a great deal of respect for the Cotton Bowl staff, and the stadium is terrific and city is centrally located in the country,” Hancock said. “They know how the CFP prefers games to be administered. And our office is in Irving. So all of the above.”
Everything came to a head in the first half of December.
Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame — the top three teams in the CFP rankings at the time — began questioning the wisdom of flying teams to play on the West Coast during a pandemic. And a ban on fans became a sticking point, with the schools wanting a small number of parents and friends to be able to watch the game at the cavernous Rose Bowl. California officials declined to grant a waiver.
Baker got the news Dec. 19 that the Rose Bowl wouldn’t be able to host.
Patton was at AT&T Stadium watching the Big 12 championship game when he got the call from Baker.
“It’s happening,” Baker told him.
Rose Bowl officials will still be in charge of the Jan. 1 game, Hancock said.
“I was heartbroken for the Rose Bowl,” Baker said. “It would have been devastating for us. I can’t imagine how it would have been for the Rose Bowl staff.”
The CFP selection committee made the decision to put No. 1 Alabama in the semifinal in Arlington instead of New Orleans, committee chairman Gary Barta said, because AT&T Stadium will have about 16,000 seats available as opposed to 3,000 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Bowl bubble
An informal “war room” discussion was scheduled for Dec. 20 to walk through all the contingencies.
Patton said he has gained a new admiration for the Cotton Bowl staff.
“What professionals, to be jumping in and figuring out how things were going to happen, with all the logistics associated with it,” he said.
One key point was how to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak. Both the CFP and the Cotton Bowl had looked at the experiences of the NBA and NHL “bubbles” this year, as well as the World Series in Arlington.
The Cotton Bowl also had closely monitored how the Cowboys handled games at AT&T Stadium.
Marty MacInnis, the Cotton Bowl’s chief operating officer, suggested a bubble concept for the Cotton and Rose.
“Our staff took it and ran with it,” Baker said. “One of the responsibilities in all this was to try to keep everyone as safe as we possibly could and put them in an environment of coming in, playing the game and leaving with as little risk as possible.”
The Cotton Bowl approached Robert Watson, the general manager of the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, about a bubble concept. Normally, the Cotton Bowl splits teams between the Anatole and the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine.
Watson agreed to host the teams for both the Cotton and Rose as well as bowl staff, with no other guests permitted, even on New Year’s Eve. Security will be stationed around the hotel, and drivers and runners designated for unforeseen circumstances, like the need to fill a prescription.
The teams will leave the hotel only for the walk-through at the stadium, with the traditional Cotton hospitality on hiatus. Oklahoma and Florida will check out at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with Alabama and Notre Dame checking into different rooms a little after 5 p.m.
Florida coach Dan Mullen was familiar with the Anatole from the numerous times it has hosted coaching conventions.
“I think it’s a pretty smart idea, to be honest with you. I think it will work,” Mullen said. “Again, it’s not like we’re going to be there for a whole week, like in a traditional time. We’re there in a very much smaller, shorter window.
“I think because of that, it makes it much easier to manage all being in one area. I’m sure it’s much easier to manage.”
Potential gain
In the years since AT&T Stadium hosted the first CFP championship, the game has been moved around the country to different sites as part of a strategy on selling the playoff.
Hancock wouldn’t comment on a return to Arlington or if a successful double-hosting in this unusual year would help.
“I don’t want to speculate about what might happen in the future,” Hancock said, “but I do I want to say we greatly appreciate the Cotton Bowl and AT&T Stadium being available for this.”
Patton admitted that this sort of on-the-fly adjustment was not what he expected when he became Cotton Bowl chairman in April.
“What’s been so impressive to me is how adaptable the Cotton Bowl staff is,” Patton said. “I remember Jerry Jones giving a speech to the energy business, shoot, 25 years ago. And he’s a great speaker.
“One of his main points that I remember was that you have to have a tolerance for ambiguity. Oh my goodness, is this the year you have to have a tolerance for ambiguity.”
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