Lingerie Bowl a no-show

Lingerie Bowl V promoters acknowledged today there will be no Super Bowl halftime special this year featuring scantily clad female football players.

“Unfortunately we wasted too much time in Scottsdale in trying to attain a permit thus limiting our possibilities in neighboring cities,” said Horizon Productions spokesman Chris Martin, who had no comment on the city’s handling of the application.

Horizon Productions targeted Scottsdale as its destination of choice during an over-the-top press conference held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in February 2007.

Surrounded by model players, cheerleaders and referees, the Los Angeles-based firm highlighted that adult film mogul Jenna Jameson was to be the color announcer. This was just six months after her club, Babe’s Cabaret, won a victory during a Scottsdale election.

They even tried to bait Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross into opposing the event, including sending her a lingerie uniform. Her opposition to the Pink Taco name had gained national attention for the restaurant, which is located at the Scottsdale Waterfront.

While Scottsdale never formally rejected the plans to close city streets for a festival or play the game at a downtown golf course, it was obvious the Lingerie Bowl was not being welcomed with open arms. In fact, the city received an overwhelming negative response from residents who chose to e-mail the city.

The promoters withdrew their application in October, just as other Super Bowl related events and parties were being approved for Scottsdale’s streets and bars.

But promoters continued to stress the game was coming somewhere in the Valley, even calling a Jan. 7 press conference. But that, like the game, never materialized.

The 2007 Lingerie Bowl IV was also canceled, which promoters said was because of the upcoming switch from a pay-per-view contract to the game being televised on a cable television station. But throughout the last year, the promoters could never say who the cable station was that would be broadcasting the 2008 game.

For three years, the Lingerie Bowl was taped at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and aired on pay-per-view during halftime of the Super Bowl. This was the event’s first attempt at holding the game in the Super Bowl host city. The event is not sanctioned by the National Football League.

Martin said today that a location has already been secured for Lingerie Bowl VI in Tampa, Fla., the site of the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII.