Differences Also Helped to Dampen Starr’s Show

It rained on the day Tom Starr resigned, which is about as poetic as the Freedom Bowl ever got. It also rained on Starr’s opening night in 1984, soaking Texas Longhorns and Iowa Hawkeyes and any chances the baby bowl had of drawing a decent crowd.

Let Freedom wring.

“The worst rain in Anaheim in 12 years,” Starr says, still grumbling over the flaws of nature.

And it kept the curiosity seekers away by the tens of thousands. Only 24,093 braved the elements that evening and although there would be better days, drier days down the line, the mood, definitely, had been set.

Orange County would never really warm up to the Freedom Bowl.

There have been six of them now, enough to get network television to buy into the idea, but attendance for Freedom VI was a dead-last 13th among the New Year’s weekend bowl games--a mere 33,858.

If that turnstile total wasn’t the last straw, it was at least the last disappointment Starr would suffer as executive director of the Freedom Bowl, the job he resigned from on Wednesday.

“Hell, every year has been disappointing,” Starr says. “I could bring the game national (contacts) because of my years in the bowl business and the people I knew. I could do that. I’m not sure what else I can do for them. What they need to do is get the stadium sold out and get a title sponsor.”

And under Starr’s direction, the Freedom Bowl didn’t get either.

Take away Freedom III, which had a crowd of 51,422 because of the local lure of UCLA, and the average attendance for a Freedom Bowl has been 31,629--or about half of Anaheim Stadium.

A title sponsor would figure here, Starr believes, because if a corporate heavyweight would pay to have its name linked to the game, the Freedom Bowl would have the bucks to attract big-name teams and, therefore, big crowds. The thinking is that Notre Dame and Miami would someday love to play in the Kaopectate Freedom Bowl, provided the money was right.

But the Freedom Bowl has had good teams. Not great, but good enough: Iowa and Chuck Long in 1984. UCLA and Gaston Green in 1986. Arizona State in 1987. Colorado twice. BYU twice. Washington twice.

Apparently, it takes more than good football to wrench the Orange County fan away from his VCR and his Nintendo for a few hours every December.

Especially with the action, courtesy NBC, now as close as your remote control.

If Starr had had his way, he’d have played Mickey Rooney and put on a show. Give away prizes. Hire a band. Throw a party and send out invitations for 65,000.

Starr describes this as one of the “philosophical differences” he always had with the Freedom Bowl board of directors.

“My feeling is--and the board disagrees with this--is that I’m not so sure we shouldn’t go the USC route and the Hula Bowl route and schedule a postgame concert,” Starr says. “I think we should also take a cue from baseball and come up with some giveaways. Caps, T-shirts, tickets, whatever.

“The concert tie-in wouldn’t be a bad idea to look into. The Hula Bowl had Willie Nelson and thought it meant them an extra 5,000 to 7,000. USC figured the Beach Boys meant an extra 20,000.”

And what kind of act would the Freedom Bowl book?

Well, Guns N’ Roses are out.

“I don’t think any heavy rock band,” Starr says. “Something more middle of the road. Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen. The New Kids on the Block would be hot.”

Tom, if the Freedom Bowl gets Springsteen, the Freedom Bowl will sell out. The fans might not care much for the opening act, but the place will sell out.

“We’ve got to convince Orange County that this game is important for Orange County,” Starr says. “If the bowls ever go by the wayside and they start a national playoff, they’ve got to fill Anaheim Stadium for the Freedom Bowl. If not, when the NCAA considers places for playoff sites, they’ll look at Anaheim and say, ‘Well, they didn’t even fill it for a bowl game.’

“They need to get to 40,000 to 45,000 consistently.”

And in Starr’s view, some sort of college football playoff format will be in place “within seven or eight years.”

Explains Starr: “I’m not condoning one. I’m not for one. But just the fact that it got to the NCAA (convention) floor shows the elements for a football playoff are there.

“I know I’ve heard some athletic directors talk about the $1 billion TV contract the NCAA gets from the basketball tournament and say, ‘Wow, just think what they’d do for football.’

“College athletic directors are under a lot of financial pressure these days. They’re going to have to go where the money is.”

Starr, though, hopes he never has to see the day.

“I’m for the bowls,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with coming out of the season with five or six teams saying, ‘We’re No. 1.’ That’s great. That’s unique. No other sport has that . . .

“I love the bowls. I love the bowl business.”

So much so that Starr is considering jumping back in--”I have a couple of possibilities out there”--once he takes some time to catch his breath.

“I moved into a new apartment in Newport Beach in August and didn’t see it in the daylight until November,” Starr says. “I’ve still got to hang up pictures, get some chairs and some furniture.

“I want to watch the boats go by.”

It’s a beautiful view, so long as it doesn’t rain.