Gator Bowl prez: "We’d very much like to put Georgia against Iowa or Michigan"

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The one part of the article that gives us a glimmer of hope for Jacksonville:

"Nebraska is another possible Big Ten team, but Catlett would not want a rematch of last year’s Capital One Bowl with Georgia."

If the BWW Bowl decides Texas-Michigan is too good to pass up (Detroit Free Press), leaving the Gator Bowl with us and Nebraska, we might have a very small chance, though still highly unlikely.
 

I highly doubt the Gator Bowl wants us, which is a bummer.
 

Just posted in a new thread. Per BTN.com, Tom Dienhart puts us in the Gator Bowl vs. Vandy. Obviously his opinion on the matter is much less relevant than the president of the Gator Bowl.....
 


Hound Dogs said:
Just posted in a new thread. Per BTN.com, Tom Dienhart puts us in the Gator Bowl vs. Vandy. Obviously his opinion on the matter is much less relevant than the president of the Gator Bowl.....
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Yeah, that match-up has less than a 0% chance of happening, especially after the Gator Bowl's attendance fiasco with last year's Northwestern-Mississippi State game (only the Miami-Georgia Tech game in 1999 had a lower turnout in the bowl's last 50 years). The Gator's top priority this season is butts in the seats, and taking a team without a great traveling base against a private school wouldn't get it done.
 

Yep. Sigh. Hard to argue - Iowa had a better season with more wins and "better losses." Michigan is Michigan. It sucks for the Big Ten because I personally think we're better than Michigan and would play whatever SEC team they throw at us much closer than a very down Michigan, but they care more about eyes on TV and butts in seats (and restaurants).

Count me in the crowd that hates sh!tty bowl destinations and won't travel to them with my limited entertainment dollars. Houston sucks (I go there for work probably 2-4x a year anyway), the stadium is indoors (meh) and not even near anything (meaning I'd likely need to rent a car, meh), nearby beaches suck, and the opponent will likely be very meh as well (perhaps even one we played last year and in 2006).
 


RailBaronYarr said:
Count me in the crowd that hates sh!tty bowl destinations and won't travel to them with my limited entertainment dollars. Houston sucks (I go there for work probably 2-4x a year anyway), the stadium is indoors (meh) and not even near anything (meaning I'd likely need to rent a car, meh), nearby beaches suck, and the opponent will likely be very meh as well (perhaps even one we played last year and in 2006).
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The bolded part is what makes me hope the "powers that be" could work something out to avoid a rematch. The Texas Bowl knows they can rely on Tech's local fan base to bring 15-20,000 fans, so they don't have a problem with inviting the Red(neck) Raiders back, but I'm sure they also know nobody in Minnesota could possibly give a damn about traveling back there to see the same match-up.

This is the final season of the Texas Bowl being affiliated with the Big Ten - why not swap it to another bowl in an attempt to boost interest? I know there would be plenty of legal/financial specifics to work out, but if it could be done, how about this for a juicy storyline? The Belk Bowl in Charlotte has the exact same payout as the Texas Bowl ($1.7 million) and could be stuck with bringing back Cincinnati for the second straight year, a school that isn't exactly known for traveling well. Trade Minnesota to Charlotte for a game against North Carolina - the team we were originally supposed to face in September. Cincinnati could then go to Houston to face Texas Tech - the team Tommy Tuberville ditched before last year's bowl. It would be the kind of stuff the NCAA Tournament selection committee dreams of.
 



A huge obstacle on the Gator Bowl front is that Michigan, Nebraska, and Iowa have not been there in very recently in the first two cases and not at all in the last case. The Texas Bowl would not want a Minnesota-Texas Tech rematch if it can be at all avoided (bowl games typically hate immediate rematches since fans tend to view them as old hat and don't buy tickets as a result). If the Texas Bowl has no choice but to take us, it would be interesting to see if it looks at getting another Big 12 team, if that's actually possible.
 

I'd much rather have the Texas Bowl anyway.

Now, I say this as someone that doesn't actually travel to the bowls, so there's that. Buuuuut......

The biggest thing the Gophers need right now is exposure, which means TV ratings. The TV ratings for the Texas Bowl are MUCH better than the Gator Bowl, which is on ESPN2 and is head-to-head with the much better Capital One (ABC) and Outback (ESPN) bowls. It's a total afterthought for the vast majority of the country which is why it got worse ratings than the Little Caesar's Bowl last year (seriously). The Texas Bowl is primetime on ESPN and usually gets very solid ratings.

I think a lot of fans are still holding on to the notion that New Years Day Bowl = prestige, but that's simply outdated thinking. I mean, the game is sponsored by taxslayer.com for goodness sake, and what good is antiquated prestige worth if nobody is watching your game?

Being passed over by the Gator Bowl is a blessing in disguise. I hope we never go there.
 

Sports_Realist said:
A huge obstacle on the Gator Bowl front is that Michigan, Nebraska, and Iowa have not been there in very recently in the first two cases and not at all in the last case. The Texas Bowl would not want a Minnesota-Texas Tech rematch if it can be at all avoided (bowl games typically hate immediate rematches since fans tend to view them as old hat and don't buy tickets as a result). If the Texas Bowl has no choice but to take us, it would be interesting to see if it looks at getting another Big 12 team, if that's actually possible.
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It's not. The Texas Bowl will be left with the last bowl-eligible teams from each league, which will probably be Minnesota and Texas Tech.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
Count me in the crowd that hates sh!tty bowl destinations and won't travel to them with my limited entertainment dollars. Houston sucks (I go there for work probably 2-4x a year anyway), the stadium is indoors (meh) and not even near anything (meaning I'd likely need to rent a car, meh), nearby beaches suck, and the opponent will likely be very meh as well (perhaps even one we played last year and in 2006).
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And Jacksonville doesn't suck?
 



Jike Spingleton said:
The bolded part is what makes me hope the "powers that be" could work something out to avoid a rematch. The Texas Bowl knows they can rely on Tech's local fan base to bring 15-20,000 fans, so they don't have a problem with inviting the Red(neck) Raiders back, but I'm sure they also know nobody in Minnesota could possibly give a damn about traveling back there to see the same match-up.

This is the final season of the Texas Bowl being affiliated with the Big Ten - why not swap it to another bowl in an attempt to boost interest? I know there would be plenty of legal/financial specifics to work out, but if it could be done, how about this for a juicy storyline? The Belk Bowl in Charlotte has the exact same payout as the Texas Bowl ($1.7 million) and could be stuck with bringing back Cincinnati for the second straight year, a school that isn't exactly known for traveling well. Trade Minnesota to Charlotte for a game against North Carolina - the team we were originally supposed to face in September. Cincinnati could then go to Houston to face Texas Tech - the team Tommy Tuberville ditched before last year's bowl. It would be the kind of stuff the NCAA Tournament selection committee dreams of.
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Cool thought but possible? Not sure.
 

Gopherprof said:
The biggest thing the Gophers need right now is exposure, which means TV ratings. The TV ratings for the Texas Bowl are MUCH better than the Gator Bowl, which is on ESPN2 and is head-to-head with the much better Capital One (ABC) and Outback (ESPN) bowls. It's a total afterthought for the vast majority of the country which is why it got worse ratings than the Little Caesar's Bowl last year (seriously). The Texas Bowl is primetime on ESPN and usually gets very solid ratings.

I think a lot of fans are still holding on to the notion that New Years Day Bowl = prestige, but that's simply outdated thinking. I mean, the game is sponsored by taxslayer.com for goodness sake, and what good is antiquated prestige worth if nobody is watching your game?
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Disagree that NYD no longer equals prestige. In the case of the Heart of Dallas Bowl, yes, but all of the other traditional games are still more prestigious. There were 48.4 million viewers for the five "traditional" NYD bowls last season. You have to add together the total viewership of the top 12 pre-NYD bowls to reach that number. The games between Christmas and New Year's Eve are almost always aired unopposed by other football games, hence the relatively higher ratings for those games, but they still don't compare to what the NYD games (and the Peach Bowl in prime time on New Year's Eve) bring in.

The Gator Bowl gets hurt in TV ratings because the game is on ESPN2 at the same time as the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl on ABC/ESPN. The last year the Gator Bowl aired on CBS, they drew 6.4 million viewers - the Outback Bowl only had 5.7 million that year. In the three years since moving to ESPN2, the Gator has drawn a total of 7.9 million. That was the trade-off the bowl made when they decided they'd rather have middle-of-the-pack SEC and Big Ten teams than top-tier ACC and Big East (now AAC) teams.
 

If we're going by eyeballs on the screen, based on last-three-year average, here's the ranking of the bowls:

Rose (18.4m)
Outback (9.4m)
Capital One (7.2m)
BWW (4.3m)
Texas (4.2m)
Gator (2.6m)
Little Caesars (2.5m)
Heart of Dallas (1m; only played last year)
 

I'll hang out in Austin and do a day drive to the game.
 

If you don't want a Texas Tech rematch pray that N. ILL stumbles in the MAC championship game. They are barely in 14th place in the BCS if they drop to 15th they're not eligible and most likely a 2nd Big 12 team gets an at large slot in the BCS.
 

We still need to avoid Dallas. If MSU wins we're good. If MSU loses a close one (7 points or less) it would really help if nobody behind them wins and a few teams in front of them lose. If MSU gets blown out it's a problem.

Playing this week:
#1 FSU vs. #20 Duke (go FSU - no Duke automatic bid!)
#3 Auburn vs. #5 Mizzou (who cares - neither team will drop below MSU with a loss)
#6 Ok St. vs. #17 Oklahoma (Ok St. probably doesn't drop past MSU with both losing, but voters have Oklahoma bias, go Cowboys)
#7 Stanford vs. #11 ASU (who cares - Stanford has two losses and would drop past MSU, but ASU would leapfrog)
#9 Baylor vs. #25 Texas (Go Horns!)
#14 N. Illinois vs. Bowling Green (Go BG)
#16 UCF vs. SMU (Go Ponies)
#19 Louisville vs. Cincinatti (doesn't matter, Louisville doesn't jump MSU)
#23 Fresno St. vs. Utah State (doesn't matter, Louisville doesn't jump MSU)

LSU with three losses is rated 15th in the BCS. This is useful as it may act as a backstop for MSU (maybe their two losses drop them only to #14).
 

Someone on twitter had a buddy in the Michigan AD office, that said Michigan will play Texas in the Buffalo wild wings bowl. Who ever this dude is need to chill on twitter, i hope he wrong, so he can face the music. but i love the Gophers in the gator bowl, but it not happening period.

https://twitter.com/gophers1515/status/407563804034101248
 

Gopherprof said:
And Jacksonville doesn't suck?
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Yes, but I'd take the beaches near it, the weather, the outdoor stadium, and the proximity to other potential entertainment possibilities (like 2 hours to Disney) over Houston (and surrounding attractions) any day of the week.

Also, don't mistake ratings of the game for how many people are aware of the game and/or flipping through it on TV. TV ratings may have most people "watching" the other games on NYD, but I know most people flip back and forth (other than die-hard fans of one particular game). I would bet being on a day that most people have off from work has benefits, not to mention the ability to claim a "traditional" NYD bowl.
 

Jike Spingleton said:
Disagree that NYD no longer equals prestige.
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Disagree all you want but it's true. The # of bowl games has diluted the product, and the taxslayer.com Gator Bowl is not one of the remaining prestigious bowls. They gave up whatever prestige they had when they decided they wanted to be 3rd banana in the ESPN family to the Capital One and the Outback Bowl.

This is part of the reason why they are so desperate for Michigan-Georgia.

There were 48.4 million viewers for the five "traditional" NYD bowls last season. You have to add together the total viewership of the top 12 pre-NYD bowls to reach that number.
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What does that have to do with the very few people that actually watched the Gator Bowl. We didn't make the Rose Bowl, so that number is irrelevant. If it doesn't apply to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, why would it apply to the Gator Bowl?

The games between Christmas and New Year's Eve are almost always aired unopposed by other football games, hence the relatively higher ratings for those games, but they still don't compare to what the NYD games (and the Peach Bowl in prime time on New Year's Eve) bring in.
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Which is what, exactly?


The Gator Bowl gets hurt in TV ratings because the game is on ESPN2 at the same time as the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl on ABC/ESPN.
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I know. I said that. That's the problem.
 


How ironic is it that the Gophers may end up playing Texas Tech for the third time, causing MN fans to stay away in droves... so Rittenberg can continue to say how MN fans don't travel next year when they get bumped from the Cap One or Outback bowl? Who knows? It is probably impossible to calculate the number of MN fans that would travel to the Gator Bowl in a hypothetical situation as opposed to the likely reality of a return trip to Houston.

All I know is it is sure fun to consider we are talking about the discomfort of returning to Houston one year after being excited about being a bowl game at all. That is progress, and that confirms my glass is half full. Perhaps one day in the not-too-distant future we can be talking about how the Gophers got jobbed down to the Capital One bowl when they deserve a BCS game.
 

Gopherprof said:
The # of bowl games has diluted the product, and the taxslayer.com Gator Bowl is not one of the remaining prestigious bowls.
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Compared to the Texas Bowl or Heart of Dallas Bowl, yes it is. The obscene number of bowl games reflects poorly on events like the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, not a game with a 70-year history.

Gopherprof said:
What does that have to do with the very few people that actually watched the Gator Bowl. We didn't make the Rose Bowl, so that number is irrelevant. If it doesn't apply to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, why would it apply to the Gator Bowl?
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I was under the impression that your argument is that games on New Year's Day are no longer prestigious. If you want to amend that to mean exclusively the Gator Bowl, based on TV ratings over the last three seasons (and apparently the fact that they have Taxslayer.com as a title sponsor), then I concede, because that is a ridiculously small sample size for a game that, again, has a 70-year history. I'm happy for the Outback Bowl, though, that they gained so much prestige when they passed the Gator Bowl in TV ratings in 2010 (and having a steakhouse chain as a title sponsor - tons of respect there).
 

I'm saying that being on New Year's Day by itself is not a measure of prestige. Are SOME games on New Year's Day prestigious? Of course. But so are some games that aren't on New Year's Day and vice versa.

And yes, being sponsored by a website (particularly a website most people have never heard of) is a little more demeaning than being sponsored by a major corporate brand, which they would get as a sponsor if people actually watched their game and they were on a real network (which they aren't, because it's not a big game). It's the difference between being Disney World and the county fair; and the county fair has been around longer as well.
 

Schnauzer said:
How ironic is it that the Gophers may end up playing Texas Tech for the third time, causing MN fans to stay away in droves... so Rittenberg can continue to say how MN fans don't travel next year when they get bumped from the Cap One or Outback bowl? Who knows? It is probably impossible to calculate the number of MN fans that would travel to the Gator Bowl in a hypothetical situation as opposed to the likely reality of a return trip to Houston.

All I know is it is sure fun to consider we are talking about the discomfort of returning to Houston one year after being excited about being a bowl game at all. That is progress, and that confirms my glass is half full. Perhaps one day in the not-too-distant future we can be talking about how the Gophers got jobbed down to the Capital One bowl when they deserve a BCS game.
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Not sure the matchup would do much to influence the overall attendance by Gopher fans. The fans that would travel to a bowl like this are going to go regardless of who we get matched up against because no matter what it is not going to be a prestigious opponent. We are dealing with teams in the middle of their conferences like us.

Of course the problem is there is little about this game that will excite the fan base and get the travel numbers up which in turn will continue to enforce the perception that MN fans won't travel to bowl games.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Not sure the matchup would do much to influence the overall attendance by Gopher fans. The fans that would travel to a bowl like this are going to go regardless of who we get matched up against because no matter what it is not going to be a prestigious opponent. We are dealing with teams in the middle of their conferences like us.

Of course the problem is there is little about this game that will excite the fan base and get the travel numbers up which in turn will continue to enforce the perception that MN fans won't travel to bowl games.
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As someone who has attended 7 of the last 8 bowl games, I would say that the matchup is absolutely going to influence my decision to attend another game in Houston. I'm one of the people that will go regardless of the opponent, but even I'm not going if it's Texas Tech again.

I've already seen that game twice, and don't need to see it a third time. Also, Texas Tech has some of the worst fans. I generally enjoy my time with the opponent's fans, but not those people. There's also the fact that, for unknown reasons, Houston is an incredibly expensive flight from Minneapolis. Last year I had to spend $550 to get a flight to IAH. Another $150 would get me to Europe. I assume that the folks at the U understand all of these things, and are going to do anything they can to get the Gophers a different game.
 

Gopherprof said:
I'm saying that being on New Year's Day by itself is not a measure of prestige. Are SOME games on New Year's Day prestigious? Of course. But so are some games that aren't on New Year's Day and vice versa.

And yes, being sponsored by a website (particularly a website most people have never heard of) is a little more demeaning than being sponsored by a major corporate brand, which they would get as a sponsor if people actually watched their game and they were on a real network (which they aren't, because it's not a big game). It's the difference between being Disney World and the county fair; and the county fair has been around longer as well.
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That might be a little harsh. The Gator Bowl now might be a "3rd String" Bowl but as Jike said, people do watch it. Looking at it's history up until very recently it's been a Bowl right outside the BCS "Big" Bowls. Taking a look it's history they've hosted a lot of ranked teams, a whole lot of famous names and have been paying-out a million dollar plus since 1982.

http://www.gatorbowl.com/?page_id=606

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gator_Bowl#Game_results
 

Iceland12 said:
That might be a little harsh. The Gator Bowl now might be a "3rd String" Bowl but as Jike said, people do watch it. Looking at it's history up until very recently it's been a Bowl right outside the BCS "Big" Bowls. Taking a look it's history they've hosted a lot of ranked teams, a whole lot of famous names and have been paying-out a million dollar plus since 1982.

http://www.gatorbowl.com/?page_id=606

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gator_Bowl#Game_results
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Which isn't terribly relevant since they've decided to be the 3rd banana to the Capital One and Outback Bowls.

Look, I'm not saying the Texas Bowl is any more prestigious. Of course not. And I completely understand why fans who actually attend the games would prefer to not see the same game in the same location (though from a matchup perspective I'd love a rematch).

All I'm saying is that for program growth, ratings matter more than some antiquated and false sense of prestige. How long a bowl has been around is irrelevant by itself. We build the brand and attract recruits by being seen on national television winning games against fellow BCS schools.
 

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