Simple Green Bowl Outlook Is Anything but Simple

If Doug Bennett, the Simple Green Orange County Bowl manager, had to make a decision this week, the game would be history.

But Bennett is going to wait until the spring to make the final decision. In the meantime, he’s going to discuss the situation with local football coaches and athletic directors.

Bennett’s grim outlook comes mostly from two consecutive years without an Orange County team in the game and less than a combined 800 spectators in the stands. Saturday’s driving rainstorm that helped keep the attendance below 400 didn’t help.

“I need to put some perspective on this,” said Bennett, who brought in Simple Green as the sponsor in 1991.

The game started in 1981 as the Pony Bowl and had also been known as the Orange County Bowl.

There was a time when it was one of the most important bowl games in the state. Four times between 1987 to 1992, a national champion was decided in the game. Teams came from Taft and San Francisco because the game offered the most prestigious matchup around.

But Saddleback was the only local bowl-worthy team last year and the Gauchos, who were ranked first in the state, went to Sacramento and beat the second-ranked Panthers. Bennett understood the move because Saddleback was hoping for a national title. They ended up sharing the title with Blinn, Texas, in one publication.

That left the Simple Green with a Grossmont-El Camino matchup that was appealing on paper but not to area fans. The game drew fewer than 500 despite decent weather.

This year, Hancock and Long Beach, ranked third and fourth in Southern California, was another strong matchup, but again that didn’t translate into spectators.

Hancock, despite traveling about 200 miles, had more people on its side of the stadium than Long Beach. The combined attendance was about 300.

Each college is given tickets before the game and Long Beach sold 14.

Bennett has yet to hear from Hancock, but the number is expected to be higher because the college had players selling tickets at the mall in Santa Maria in an effort to cover travel expenses footed by game sponsors.

The game could have featured a local team, but Santa Ana went to Antelope Valley in an effort to have a new experience. The Dons played in the Simple Green Bowl in 1988, ’89 and ’94.