Fiesta Bowl To Offer More Crunch Deal With Frito-Lay Not Only Richest, But Could Also Pit Top Teams In College Football

The Fiesta Bowl announced an agreement with Frito-Lay on Wednesday that will produce the richest postseason game in college football history.

The two teams that meet in the Jan. 2, 1996, game will split about $17 million, with another $9 million going to the college bowl alliance.

“The payment from the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl next year will be the single largest payment in bowl history,” Fiesta president John Junker said.

Junker estimated that each Fiesta Bowl team would receive about $8.5 million.

“That is a number that’s been discussed, so it’s certainly within the neighborhood,” he said.

In its news release, the Fiesta Bowl said each team would receive $13 million. But alliance officials later explained that about a third of the total $26 million payout will go into a revenue pool shared by the Sugar and Orange bowls, the other members of the alliance.

Starting this season, the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls will rotate as sites of a possible national championship game. The Fiesta will host the top alliance game this season.

The game will feature the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country unless they are the champions of the Big Ten or Pac-10, which are committed to the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl, which paid each team $6.5 million last season, has raised its payout to $8.5 million in response to the alliance’s plans.

ESPN commentator Beano Cook said the huge increase in bowl payments was a sign of the times.

“Just look what’s happening in the Olympics,” Cook said. “It’s happening everywhere. When ABC signed their first football contract in the ‘60s, I thought there had to be a limit. After a couple of times, I realized there was no limit.

“Eventually there will be a saturation point, and the next thing after that is pay TV.”

Frito-Lay signed a three-year deal, with an option to renew for three more years. It would cover the six-year period of the alliance contract.

Only figures on the bowl payout were released, but the Plano, Texas-based snack company reportedly will contribute about $5 million per year. In exchange, the bowl will carry the name of FritoLay’s Tostitos chips.

“As far as we’re concerned, this is bigger than the Super Bowl, or as big,” said Frito-Lay regional sales director Mark Richards.

The previous high for a Fiesta Bowl payout was $3 million per team.

In 1991, some teams refused to play in the game because Arizona didn’t approve a Martin Luther King holiday. Last season, the game featured unranked Notre Dame against Colorado.

This year’s game will definitely have two of the best teams in the country.

“I’ve never been to the Fiesta Bowl, and I’ve been to Phoenix only once, but they’ve done a good job,” Cook said. “They’ve taken their chances this year with the payout, but they could get something great - Notre Dame and Nebraska, or maybe Notre Dame and Florida State, where they’d play the ‘93 season over again, double or nothing.”