Bowl: Cotton Bowl 2005
Sport: College Football
Background: The 69th SBC Cotton Bowl
Classic is scheduled for Friday, January 1, 2005, at
10 a.m. CST.
The Cotton Bowl Athletic Association (CBAA) is a nonprofit
organization incorporated under the laws of the state
of Texas to promote, sponsor and stage an annual postseason
intercollegiate football game in Dallas.
SBC Communications became the official title sponsor
of the game on September 18, 1996. The length of the
partnership runs through the 2006 Classic.
The first Classic was conceived by the late J. Curtis
Sanford, a Dallas oilman and business executive. Sanford's
first game promotion, a private enterprise guaranteeing
each institution $10,000, matched TCU and Marquette
on January 1, 1937, at Fair Park's Cotton Bowl Stadium
before 17,000 fans. In 1941, the affiliation with the
Southwest Conference began, with the SWC voting to send
its champion annually to the Classic as the host institution.
A partnership was formed in 1998 to create one of the
top collegiate matchups in postseason play. Each year
the SBC Cotton Bowl Classic will serve as the New Year's
Day home for the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern
Conference.