John Saccenti delivers Las Vegas Bowl blueprint for success with SDSU-Houston

This is why an executive director of a football bowl game needs to play the role of Job and allow the process to take form: San Diego State is champion of the Mountain West and plays Houston in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 17 at Sam Boyd Stadium, unquestionably one of the more intriguing bowls given local angles the Aztecs will arrive with and those national storylines the Cougars took part in this season.

There aren’t many better opening scenes than a player (Donnel Pumphrey of San Diego State) returning to his home city needing 108 rushing yards against the country’s No. 2 run defense to become the NCAA’s all-time leader.

And yet before the matchup was secured, these teams were very much on the radar of Las Vegas Bowl officials:

Mississippi State with a losing record …

North Texas with a losing record …

Appalachian State …

Louisiana-Lafayette …

Army …

“The most valuable thing I have learned in this job is patience, which is incredibly difficult,” said John Saccenti, in his fourth year as the game’s executive director. “You spend 11½ months trying to plan it, and you want it to be the best it can be, but no matter how well you plan, your fate or future depends on other teams.

“So you stay the course and don’t get too excited about a particular matchup or too down about another one. No one anticipated us getting an opportunity at Houston, but when we made an offer and sold the right things, it worked and made sense for them.”

He wanted to be an architect and build hotels and casinos for Steve Wynn. He wanted to assemble massive structures, so he attended UNLV in hopes of living George Costanza’s fictional dream.

But then Saccenti landed jobs with local minor league hockey and baseball teams.

Sports replaced a drafting kit.

When it became apparent the Pac-12 wouldn’t produce enough eligible teams to fill its Las Vegas commitment this year, Saccenti and a majority of his selection committee envisioned inviting Mississippi State. Even at 5-7, a Southeastern Conference team still carries a serious level of appeal, no matter that the league is more and more grossly overrated beyond the national power from Tuscaloosa that sits atop it.

Never, though, underestimate the power and influence of TV suits in these deals.

ABC will carry the Las Vegas Bowl, and those executives with a loud, influential voice about such matters weren’t leaping at the thought of a losing record being attached to a team playing in such a prime spot, even if it arrived from the (Not-So-Mighty) SEC.

So the suits did what suits do, gently (sternly?) pushing everyone toward the team from the most populous city in Texas.

It was by far the smartest move.

“The reality of it is, ESPN played a key role in helping secure Houston,” said Saccenti, 41. “It’s ABC, Houston is a huge television market, we should pull a pretty good number and it’s an attractive matchup.

“Here’s the thing: I’ve never claimed to be the smartest guy in the room, and I don’t ever claim to have all the answers. One of the things I’ve most learned from and grown from being in this seat is to not always think I’m right. I take into account the professionals and their opinions and their data and their research, and ultimately we all make an educated decision.”

It’s hardly the elephant in the room, a 65,000-seat domed stadium set to be built in Las Vegas to house UNLV football and an NFL team should relocation of the Oakland Raiders be approved. It’s also where Saccenti envisions the Las Vegas Bowl eventually making its home and potentially offering an annual game between two teams from Power 5 leagues.

Mountain West representatives have been good to the game over the years, especially Boise State and Brigham Young when the latter was part of the conference and, well, even last year when it wasn’t.

But in this age of a playoff and growing whispers of a super conference, positioning yourself to be among the haves of college football is paramount from all angles, including bowl games. You can’t offer the sorts of payouts top teams from power leagues demand without selling the necessary tickets and sponsorships, and you can’t do that from a venue the size of Sam Boyd.

“We had Utah against BYU last year and probably could have sold 30,000 more tickets,” Saccenti said. “It’s all timing. Our current (bowl contracts) expire at the end of the 2019 game, and last I checked, there isn’t a shovel in the ground yet for the stadium.

“It’s easy to say ‘Let’s go get a top SEC and Pac-12 team.’ They’re great, and they travel, and yet it also takes a lot of money to play ball with them. We’re not in the business, at least our operation, of being incredibly risky. We’re pretty conservative.”

What they are this year is incredibly fortunate with the matchup and its storylines.

It’s not a hotel or casino, but Saccenti delivered a promising blueprint.

Costanza would approve.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.