Bye, bye bowl games

[LAOrange]

With the playoffs coming and the tendency of players to skip bowls, the bowl system is a waste of time. There's so much money involved for the players that it needs to go the way of all-star games. For instance, why would a LQA risk getting hurt when his whole team is basically in the portal.

 

[corpjet]

It will be interesting to see what happens, will the lower level bowls go away, probably not especially with ESPN owning so many of them and looking for football to fill their holiday time slots when so many folks are off of work.

 

[FAL]

It will be interesting to see what happens, will the lower level bowls go away, probably not especially with ESPN owning so many of them and looking for football to fill their holiday time slots when so many folks are off of work.

Isn’t that why they have BB games? I think LAO made an excellent point…

 

[corpjet]

Isn’t that why they have BB games? I think LAO made an excellent point…

BB eyeballs are typically less….yes even for bad football like we witnessed last night

 

[sufandu]

As long as money is being made and teams don't opt out, they'll still have bowls.

 

[SU68]

Bowl games are created by local chambers of commerce and tourist bureaus. TV/cable buys the rights to telecast to have product and sell ads. That's not going away.

 

[atlanticuse]

Even the previous prominent bowls - New Years 6 etc - are seeing portal and other holdout players. Why bother watching? It’s like a Bench Pro Bowl.

The boilerplate “I’d like to thank [my university] and my family and God but I’ve decided to enter the portal” sickens me.

Self-aggrandizing nonsense look at me.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Bowl games are created by local chambers of commerce and tourist bureaus. TV/cable buys the rights to telecast to have product and sell ads. That's not going away.

Shouting, in Orange. I like it. That's the mic drop font

 

[cuse45]

Yeah, they’re watered down but they’re not going anywhere.

 

[JRHEETER]

Until we stop watching them, they aren’t going away

And hint hint, we haven’t stopped watching them

 

[Moontan]

They also provide extra practice/development time for the following year's team.

 

[Bayside44]

I think we're just going to see the growth of early season games (us playing UT in Atlanta) and off campus neutral site games (Hello Yankee Stadium) to offset the bowls falling off a competitive cliff.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

Maybe they could have something like the old NIT to run in parallel with the playoff that could keep many of the lower level bowls, and/or another category that is basically just an end-of-season reward for teams that qualify.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Until we stop watching them, they aren’t going away

And hint hint, we haven’t stopped watching them

It isn't just eyeballs though.

With the expanded playoffs, the Bowls will have less revenue. Which means less payout to the teams. Most Bowls are already a loss for the schools, but they put up with it as the overall Bowl system was a net positive. Now that there is a playoff, why play the Bowl game? Why lose money to go play with a skeleton team in an exhibition game?

Also in the past, those 15 extra practices were a big deal. Now with the portal those have become meaningless. Your team's makeup in December will be very different than the makeup in August.

IMO every conference should get their top non playoff team in a Bowl. That is 9 teams, plus add in 3 at larges to make 6 Bowl games. That is it. No other Bowls should exist. They should all be played on January 1st at 11:15am, 1pm, 2:45pm, 4:30pm, 6:15pm, and 8pm.

So we have 12 Playoff teams and 12 Bowl teams. A 24 team post season. Let's give meaning once again to making a Bowl instead of just handing teams that go 5-6 vs FBS teams a reward.

 

[PhatOrange]

Next years signing day is 2 days before the first round playoff games, how’s that gonna work.

 

[Tom W.]

At the end of the day, they are still fun for the players and many fans. The majority of players are not going pro. They get to take a free trip somewhere, get some gifts, play another game. Local area makes some money, stadiums get used an extra day. It’s really still a win-win, regardless if they mean much or not. (I mean, ask the USF players and fans in Boca if that was meaningless to them…)

 

[corpjet]

At the end of the day, they are still fun for the players and many fans. The majority of players are not going pro. They get to take a free trip somewhere, get some gifts, play another game. Local area makes some money, stadiums get used an extra day. It’s really still a win-win, regardless if they mean much or not. (I mean, ask the USF players and fans in Boca if that was meaningless to them…)

#NailedIt

 

[atlanticuse]

Until we stop watching them, they aren’t going away

And hint hint, we haven’t stopped watching them

I stopped watching them years ago
Playoff? yes. Bowls? no

 

[qdawgg]

At the end of the day, they are still fun for the players and many fans. The majority of players are not going pro. They get to take a free trip somewhere, get some gifts, play another game. Local area makes some money, stadiums get used an extra day. It’s really still a win-win, regardless if they mean much or not. (I mean, ask the USF players and fans in Boca if that was meaningless to them…)

But none of this is done for the players. It’s only about $. As long as $ can still be made having lower tier bowls, they’ll stick around. Once that ends, the bowl ends. Nobody gives two craps about whether the players benefit (nobody being the powers that be).

 

[qdawgg]

I stopped watching them years ago
Playoff? yes. Bowls? no

Yeah, it’s been awhile since I watched bowl games. I used to circle all the ones I wanted to watch, there used to be some great matchups. Now it’s a spring game, maybe worse and I have no interest watching another teams practice session where half the team could care less.

 

[gmoney44]

Until we stop watching them, they aren’t going away

And hint hint, we haven’t stopped watching them

I’m too lazy to look but I bet bowl TV viewership and attendance is down and declining outside the playoffs.

 

[gmoney44]

Yeah, it’s been awhile since I watched bowl games. I used to circle all the ones I wanted to watch, there used to be some great matchups. Now it’s a spring game, maybe worse and I have no interest watching another teams practice session where half the team could care less.

I’m in the same boat. I use to watch 8 to 12 bowl games a year. Now I watch the playoff games. If they are blowouts I turn them off. I have zero interest in watching a bunch of 2nd and 3rd string players.

 

[Tom W.]

But none of this is done for the players. It’s only about $. As long as $ can still be made having lower tier bowls, they’ll stick around. Once that ends, the bowl ends. Nobody gives two craps about whether the players benefit (nobody being the powers that be).

Yeah, the motive for them from higher ups is irrelevant. Majority of players still get to enjoy. Fans make a fun trip out of it.

And that $ you mention gets spread around. Bars/restaurants/hotels get used. Stadiums get used. Players get gift packs. Universities get some, tv networks get some, etc.

Locals get to see different teams. It still counts on team record. It is a bit watered down now, but so? If people don’t want to watch, don’t watch. It’s not impacting you. Let the players/fans who go watch/enjoy.

TBH, it’s weird that people who don’t go or watch bowls feel so passionate that they shouldn’t happen.

 

[qdawgg]

Yeah, the motive for them from higher ups is irrelevant. Majority of players still get to enjoy. Fans make a fun trip out of it.

And that $ you mention gets spread around. Bars/restaurants/hotels get used. Stadiums get used. Players get gift packs. Universities get some, tv networks get some, etc.

Locals get to see different teams. It still counts on team record. It is a bit watered down now, but so? If people don’t want to watch, don’t watch. It’s not impacting you. Let the players/fans who go watch/enjoy.

TBH, it’s weird that people who don’t go or watch bowls feel so passionate that they shouldn’t happen.

I never said I feel passionate they shouldn’t happen. I was merely stating, none of this is for the benefit of the players. It’s all about $. If middle/lower tier bowls stop pulling in $ they’ll drop the bowls. Nobody is doing it for the players. Also I’ve been to my share of bowls and when I don’t go I used to spend my whole holiday season watching a lot of the games. Acting as if the bowls today are anything like they were 10-20 years ago is equally as weird IMO.

 

[Tom W.]

I never said I feel passionate they shouldn’t happen. I was merely stating, none of this is for the benefit of the players. It’s all about $. If middle/lower tier bowls stop pulling in $ they’ll drop the bowls. Nobody is doing it for the players. Also I’ve been to my share of bowls and when I don’t go I used to spend my whole holiday season watching a lot of the games. Acting as if the bowls today are anything like they were 10-20 years ago is equally as weird IMO.

Wasn’t directing that at you, specifically. More just the general narrative I keep hearing about non-playoff bowls.

And they clearly aren’t the same. But still a net-positive for those involved imo.