In recent years it's become common in the Phoenix area, Cactus Bowl executive director Mike Nealy said, to see Oregon's "O" logo plastered on cars and clothes.

To a bowl director such as Nealy charged with finding the most desirable bowl matchup for fans and ticket-sellers alike, it's a reminder that Oregon's attractiveness extends well beyond its borders.

"Oregon has done a great job of building up a fan base, and with the success they've had in past years, their fan base has exploded," he said in a phone interview Tuesday. "You know the fans are out there."

Bowl projections by several outlets consider it likely that fans of Oregon (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12), some of whom already traveled to Arizona in September to watch Oregon's loss at Arizona State, could expect a return trip to the state for the Dec. 26 Cactus Bowl, which is played in Phoenix's Chase Field.

But it's no guarantee yet that will be UO's destination when bowl berths are announced Sunday.

The Pac-12 is affiliated with seven bowls and has nine bowl-eligible teams. Its top bowls have more leeway to choose their Pac-12 representative to avoid repeat visitors, while the last three in its pecking order -- the Sun, Las Vegas and Cactus -- are locked into choosing their team by the standings, specifically a team's conference record.

During bowl selection, the Sun picks fifth, Las Vegas sixth and Cactus seventh. Oregon (7-5) ended its regular season last week tied with UCLA for the seventh-best conference record, at 4-5.

Why might the Cactus pick Oregon over UCLA to face a Big 12 opponent? There's the fanbase Nealy referenced. (The Cactus Bowl's Pac-12 team would be obligated to sell a block of 8,000 tickets.)

"We'd certainly love to host Oregon," he said.

UCLA's October victory against Oregon would not factor into the equation as a tiebreaker. But would it matter that Oregon has already played in the Phoenix area once this season? Or would fans' potential travel fatigue be a moot point, considering UCLA played in Tucson in mid-October?

"It's certainly a consideration," Nealy said. "It's important to bowls that we want to bring in guests and economic impact into our cities; thinking of which teams will travel stronger."

Though the conference's bottom three bowls must choose their team based on the Pac-12 standings, there has been speculation that the Las Vegas and Cactus bowls could go off-script to swap the league's sixth- and seventh-place teams. In such a scenario Arizona, which finished sixth, would then play closer to home.

Could that happen, and bump Oregon into Las Vegas for a Dec. 16 game against a Mountain West opponent such as Boise State?

Nealy did not believe that breaking bowl-selection rules would set a precedent the conference would like.

"I've had no conversations along those lines," Nealy said, "and I would not expect the Pac-12 to entertain that."

A spokesman for the Las Vegas bowl did not return a request for comment. John Saccenti, its executive director, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Nov. 10, that "we would love a Boise State against an Arizona school matchup. Both have unbelievable fan bases and Arizona isn't a far drive."

If a swap doesn't happen, the only avenue for Oregon to play in Las Vegas appears to be if two Pac-12 teams play in college football's upper tier of bowls, dubbed the New Year's Six. The Pac-12 champion is guaranteed such a spot but many projections consider it unlikely a second team such as Washington would be chosen as an at-large and bump every other team behind it in the bowl pecking order up a spot.

No matter Oregon's bowl, coach Willie Taggart is in line to earn a $100,000 bonus for earning a postseason berth with seven regular-season wins, according to terms of his contract.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com