Phoenix Hits the Jackpot this Bowl Season

Every December, cities from San Diego to Shreveport and Memphis to Miami wait patiently for Cornhuskers and Yellow Jackets, Bulldogs and Hurricanes to arrive.

What I'm talking about here, are teams and fans that head to bowl games. Money gets spent, bodies get tanned, and in between some football gets played.

Cities make big bucks for hosting these bowl games. A city like Atlanta estimates that the annual Chik-fil-A Bowl held at the Georgia Dome brings about $35 million to the Atlanta economy. So it's not just the fans and players that love these bowls, It's the hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, and street vendors that like the influx of visitors each year.

These year, one city is going to reap the bowl benefits three times over.

Phoenix is that city, and before Monday night's BCS Championship Game, Tempe hosted the Insight Bowl between Iowa and Missouri, and another Phoenix suburb, Glendale hosted the Fiesta Bowl between Connecticut and Oklahoma on New Year's Day.

The bowl matchups in the Phoenix area were a little something for everyone. "When you look at this set of bowl games," said John Eaton, clinical associate professor at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, "I think you have a much better Insight Bowl matchup, a Fiesta Bowl matchup that isn’t as exciting, and the BCS title game that will generate interest and bring in a lot of people from outside the town."

Bowls have the interest of the cities they represent when looking at which teams to invite to their bowls. Phoenix landed the Iowa Hawkeyes, who bring a ton of fans to games, Oklahoma, who also travels well, and an on the rise Missouri team. The one bad egg they landed was Connecticut who doesn't travel with any sort of fan base.

When the East Valley of Arizona last hosted three bowl game back in 2006-07 — the Carey School of Business estimated an overall economic impact of $401.7 million, including $171.5 million for the BCS championship game between Florida and Ohio State. Fiesta Bowl chairman Duane Woods said that he is hopeful that number can be topped this time around.

"We could see three times the stadium size, based on the demand we’ve had for the championship game," said Woods, who added that the Fiesta Bowl is hoping to add about 1,300 seats to University of Phoenix Stadium (capacity 73,000) for the BCS title game.

Michael Martin, executive vice president of the Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureau, said retailers in the city are especially excited about the upgraded Insight Bowl pairing. The Insight moved up the bowl pecking order among the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, enabling it to select 12th-ranked Missouri and Iowa.

Being a BCS bowl, the Fiesta Bowl has a little less latitiude on who they can pick, but most years it gets a top drawer matchup. "We always try to make the right decision based on rankings and how teams perform for their conferences," Woods said. "Fortunately for us, we’ve developed a reputation as a bowl people want to come to. I think the schools know when they commit to coming how important it is to get their fan base out here."

The Fiesta Bowl ended up being a bit of a challenge. Big 12 champion Oklahoma was visiting for the third time in five years, and Connecticut struggled to sell tickets. During the Fiesta Bowl week some hotel operators reported blocks of rooms that wouldnt be rented, and tickets were widely available on internet sites like StubHub and TicketsNow for around $15.

The BCS title game between Auburn and Oregon sells itself. Both teams will bring large groups of fans, the national media will flow into town, and it appears lots of money will be spent. Hotels report they are busy, restaurants are advising you make reservations and people are all over the tourist spots.

One call I made to a Waffle House in Phoenix summed up the whole bowl experience. I asked the manager who he wanted to win the game. He replied by saying: "Which ever team will celebrate the most and hit the Waffle House late that night, or in the morning."

AT&T to Sell iPhone 3GS for $49 Beginning Friday

Trying to dump the remaining stock, and in preparation for the iPhone 5 release this sprng, AT&T is going to sell the iPhone 3GS for $49 starting Friday, as a price war heats up in the increasingly crowded smartphone sector.

The phone is currently available on AT&T's website for $99, while the iPhone 4, released in June, sells for $299.

The latest offer is available to both new and certain existing customers and requires a two-year wireless-service contract of at least $39.99 a month, plus $15 data plan. AT&T and Apple want any stragglers to at least upgrade tothe 3GS in the near future.

AT&T added a record number of iPhone subscribers in the third quarter but paid a heavy price to do so. While the activations require AT&T to pay Apple high subsidies that cut into its near-term profit, they also lock in new and existing customers to a two-year contract.

AT&T isn't the first company to discount the iPhone, with retailers such as Wal-Mart Inc. and Radio Shack Corp. offering inticing promotions.

College Bowl Play of the Day: GoDaddy.Com Bowl

Yes, there is a bowl game tonight.

The GoDaddy.Com Bowl featuring Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee St.

You can throw all the records out when it comes to the GoDaddy.Com Bowl.

Middle Tennessee St. ended up the year going 6-6 after playing a difficult schedule.  They feature a strong running game and have a solid group of runners.

Miami (OH) is finishing up a 9-4 year, but there coach left for Pitt. (He was hired by Pitt and then fired last week)

Miami has a good defense, but their offense is a little banged up. 

Miami will be going to its first bowl game since 2004, when it lost to Iowa State in the Independence Bowl. The RedHawks are 6-2 in bowls, including a three-year stretch of wins from 1973-75 in the Tangerine Bowl that included victories over Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Middle Tennessee is 1-1 in its short bowl history, including last year's victory over Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl.

Middle Tenn. is gining Maimi 2 pts, but that's not enough.  Take MTSU and give the points.

Tiger Woods Not on the Cover of his Own Game

Last year, Electronic Arts made the troubled golfing great share the cover of his bestselling game with Northern Irish rookie Rory McIlroy for the first time ever.

This year, following the controversy away from the green and lackluster play on it, Woods has been dropped from the cover of the March 29th release of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters" on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

Woods has been replaced with a shot of the iconic yellow flag at Augusta National Golf Club, which is a major focus for the new game.  It's the first golf video game that takes you to Augusta National.

EA Sports has worked with Woods since 1999 on what once was a perennial bestselling title. But last year, sales of the game dropped in the U.S. and around the globe dramatically.

According to videogame analyst David Cole of DFC Intelligence, sales of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11" were down 50% to 60% on a worldwide basis from 2009.

"The sales issues of the Tiger Woods video game are much broader and deeper than Tiger's personal problems and has more to do with the entire golf sport struggling in 2010," said Jesse Divnich, Vice president of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.

During a media conference call to discuss the new game, EA Sports President Peter Moore said that the game publisher is standing by the former number one golfer in the world.

"Obviously, it was a difficult year last year, but you saw toward the end of the season Tiger starting to get back to his old ways," said Moore. "We all, as both a sports industry and sports fans, are hopeful he comes back in full force in 2011."

Tiger will remain a featured playable character in the new game, along with 20 other professional golfers like 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson and Bubba Watson, a Team USA member of the 2010 Ryder Cup - Team USA.

Two of the best announcers in golf, Jim Nantz and David Feherty will call the action in a new television broadcast presentation for the game.

Electronic Arts has spent the past year focusing on bringing The Masters to its game franchise for the first time. The studio employed new laser scanning technology to scan every hole, bush and tree of Augusta National Golf Club.

Modern Family Quotes from 'Slow Down Your Neighbors'

Jay continues to be amazed by Gloria and Manny. There is a speeder in the neighborhood, and Claire is going to catch him, or her. Cam and Mitchell are just, Cam and Mitchell.

Cam: Mitchell, there's a stranger in our hot tub.

Mitchell: I'm calling 911.

Cam: He's straight. There's no weirdness.

Mitchell: Except for you turning into a 16-year old girl.

Claire: We are catching that speeder!

Phil: Luke I am your Father!

Phil: That's what I said to you when you were coming out of your Mom's lady parts.

Manny: There's a bunch of cool kids that ride their bikes to school. Thought i would join them.

Jay: Seven Hawking could ride that bike.

Jay: There's no reason you should stay upright. It just works.

Phil: When you are working with me, you are working with a friend.

Laura: God! I hope I don't have to fire you.

Cam: What about But, yet Rachel?

Cam: I don't feel safe in my own home.

Phil: Nobody remembers Scottie Pippen.

Jay: We're riding bikes, not training police dogs.

Jay: He was a natural.

Jay: Gloria was a natural disaster.

Jay: Good days work. Why don't you say we hit the jewelry store.

Laura: This woman needs to get laid.

Claire: I am doing this for the safety of our neighborhood.

Gloria:  Jay's a terrible teacher.

Gloria:  I'm riding the bike!

Cam:  Are you living in our daughter's princess castle?

Phil:  I wish I was one of those people who thrives on leading a double life.  Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, Hannah Montana.