Don't be looking for tickets to the Cincinnati Chili Bowl this December. The game won't be played.
Plans for the postseason football bowl game broadcast nationally on the CW network from TQL Stadium featuring teams from Division I conferences — "pending official approval" — were announced Dec. 29 last year.
But the "official approval" wasn't given by the NCAA, says Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day Communications and a member of the Cincinnati USA Sports Commission. The NCAA voted not to add any new bowl games for this year, she says.
"We are in a holding pattern. There remains interest in the Chili Bowl for a future game," Reau says.
The Cincinnati USA Sports Commission, founded in 1989, had lined up an impressive package for the Queen City's first major bowl game. On game day, "30 regional corporate leaders will be invited to host the 'Big Wigs Business Brunch' where student athletes from both schools can meet and network with business leaders to discuss employment opportunities ... Initial fan engagement plans featured bourbon and craft beer tours, culinary tours, college marching band, cheer and dance team challenges, an e-sports tournament between the two schools and a fan fest," the commission said.
When the Chili Bowl was announced in December, the CW didn't have any sports properties. Since then the CW (WKRC-TV's Channel 12.2) has broadcast weekly LIV Golf tournaments this year, and started weekly Atlantic Coast Conference football games Sept. 9 with the University of Pittsburgh hosting the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.
"This is the new CW. Lots of great stuff coming," says Sean Compton, Nexstar's president of networks (overseeing the CW, Antenna TV, NewsNation and Chicago's WGN TV/radio) who got his start at WLW-AM. He's the son of Dale "Truckin' Bozo" Sommers, the former WLW overnight DJ.
"I was excited our first ever college football game was on CW with Cincinnati versus Pitt two weeks ago," he says.
"The CW finally in the sports business. LIV was the first of our sports," he says. "We have football on the CW every Saturday until Thanksgiving weekend. Basketball double-headers begin on December 2, and air every Saturday through early March … We’ve also announced NASCAR Xfinity races begin in the 2025 season."
And if the NCAA agrees to serve up a Cincinnati Chili Bowl, America will watch it on the CW.
"We remain ready when Jackie can get a date in the future," Compton says.
