Do Bowl Games Need Reformation?

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Gopherguy0723

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The Gophers were denied a better bowl game for money reasons. The bowls were concerned that the Gophers wouldn't travel, which is a fair concern because they won't.

What percent of bowl games are sold out or even close to it? How many fan bases regularly send 10,000 or more fans to bowl games? I would guess most bowls don't come close to selling out, and I would bet bowl attendance has dropped for years, except for the big time bowls. If this is true, it's probably a combination of big HD tvs and the recession. If anything, a decline in attendance would only continue with better tvs coming to market and better tvs becoming bigger and more affordable.

I also realize this isn't all about attendance. Television ratings play a factor as well. Schools with bigger names or brands will probably draw a bigger audience.

With all the being said, would it make sense to change the bowl model? What if they went away from the neutral sites for all bowls, other than the playoff games, and had true road and home games? I bet nearly all these games would sellout, and the home team could sell the tickets at a premium. Now, you'd have to split the money 50-50 with the road team, and you'd probably determine home and road by flip-flopping every year. If it's a bowl game between #4 Big Ten team and #4 SEC team, then the Big Ten gets the home game every odd year and the SEC team gets the home game every even year.

This wouldn't solve the problem with the politics of television ratings, but it would solve attendance concerns. It would also make the atmosphere at the games much better. This would certainly help teams like the Gophers get better bowl games when they earn it on the field.

I'd be open to other types of reform, but this is something that popped in my head. It's not completely thought through.

What does everyone think of bowl reform?
 

I don't think a home game against 6-6 Syracuse at the end of December (especially as cold as it's been lately) would come close to a sell out. Likely there would be even fewer fans at the game if they charged a premium for it. I'm sure this would be true for many other bowl games as well.
 



What they should do is actually have to take the team their bowl is slotted for and not allow lesser teams jump them.
 


Bowl games are tourism promotion events, not football contests. The cities that host them now would have no reason to give them up. Until today's fans get tired of inclement weather for games and demand something new -- i.e. a domed stadium (as we did once before), we could not reasonably host a bowl game here. Not sure northern teams would be excited about the proposal either since they look forward to traveling to the South around the holidays as a reward for a good season and coaches look to recruit in Texas and Florida. I like your idea but I'm afraid it has too many obstacles.
 


Schnauzer said:
Either the archery board or the Hunger Games board.
Click to expand...

No, no, no... that would be the Kraft Hunger Games Bowl. The first bowl game to introduce not just sudden death, but sudden bloody death.
 

At the very least, no team should go to the same bowl game two years in a row unless it is a BCS bowl or higher-end bowl game. And certainly don't have two teams play each other two years in a row in bowl games.

Part of the fun of going to bowl games is to go on vacation. You usually don't go on vacation to the same place two years in a row. Another fun part of bowls is you get to play teams you normally don't.

And I've been saying these things long before this year.
 



Gopherguy0723 said:
The Gophers were denied a better bowl game for money reasons. The bowls were concerned that the Gophers wouldn't travel, which is a fair concern because they won't.

What percent of bowl games are sold out or even close to it? How many fan bases regularly send 10,000 or more fans to bowl games? I would guess most bowls don't come close to selling out, and I would bet bowl attendance has dropped for years, except for the big time bowls. If this is true, it's probably a combination of big HD tvs and the recession. If anything, a decline in attendance would only continue with better tvs coming to market and better tvs becoming bigger and more affordable...

What does everyone think of bowl reform?
Click to expand...

This is a decent article. There are quite a few more out there, but yes, attendance is down in general, even at schools that traditionally have loyal fan bases, like Florida.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/01/college_football_bowl_attendan.html
 

DLguy said:
What they should do is actually have to take the team their bowl is slotted for and not allow lesser teams jump them.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see this happen. At the end of they day, I think it is our own conference we have to blame for it. If I understand it, the conferences and the bowls (outside the BCS) negotiate for tie-ins and the terms under which those tie-ins happen. I would like to see the Big Ten start to demand that the bowl with the number X draw take the number X team (defined preferably by first conference record, if tied then head to head, if no head to head meeting overall record, and if still tied BCS standings).

I think this would hurt us with some bowls but help us with others. Higher bowls might be upset they don't get their pick of the litter. The Gator Bowl would probably want some other concessions if they knew they had to take #5, even if that ends up being a less attractive team (from an attendance/ratings standpoint) like Minnesota. However, on the flip side, every bowl but the top bowl runs the risk of having a more attractive draw taken from it. Presumably we would be in a better position with the Texas Bowl if they knew they got the #6 team, even if it was a more attractive team (ratings/attendance) like Michigan without having to worry about the Gator Bowl stealing.

Unfortunately, we all know Delaney favors Michgian and OSU. He probably likes that his favorite programs will get the higher exposure games even when they have down years.
 

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