JOURNAL SPORTS

The Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl has big news to share today, calling a 4 o’clock press conference to make a “major announcement.”

There was no immediate indication of the topic, although the timing of this news and Monday’s announcement of a $370 million building project in Ruston by Radiance Technologies lent to speculation about the bowl’s sponsorship deal.

Radiance Technologies is headquartered in Huntsville, Ala., but has Louisiana offices in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Ruston. It is the third corporate title sponsor of the bowl this century and that partnership has been in place since 2021.

Other possible topics could include the ever-shifting conference affiliations with the bowl, which took a hit last December when Sun Belt Conference champion Marshall backed out of an invitation to play in Shreveport just five days after accepting it.

That left nationally-ranked Army briefly without an opponent, but I-Bowl leadership quickly pivoted despite a lack of any remaining six-win, bowl-eligible teams and tapped five-win Louisiana Tech to fill the void. Army scored a dominant 27-6 victory, but the announced crowd attending (34,283) was the best for the local bowl in 10 years.