The MAC could have a third bowl tie-in starting in 2005.

The tentatively-titled International Bowl would take place in the Toronto SkyDome and feature teams from the MAC and the Big East conferences, according to published reports. The game would be played sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The MAC’s two current bowl connections are the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. on Dec. 22 and the Motor City Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 27.

A third bowl game for the MAC would help more deserving teams play post-season football, NIU coach Joe Novak said. The Huskies won 10 games last season and defeated two ranked teams but were shut out of a bowl game. Fifty-six teams played in 28 bowl games last season.

NIU last played in a bowl game in 1983, when it beat Cal-State Fullerton 20-13 in the California Bowl.

“It would be a great reward for a deserving team in our conference,” Novak said.

No bowl game has been played outside of the United States since 1937, when the Bacardi Bowl was played in Havana, Cuba. Don Loding, director of operations for the Motor City Bowl, leads the group that hopes to bring a bowl to Toronto.

“We think we can draw huge crowds,” Loding told the Toronto Sun last week. “Toronto is an international city that college football fans would enjoy visiting. We think our chances of having the game approved are excellent.”

The NCAA’s bowl certification committee meets in April and will discuss the possibilities of the International Bowl.