The bowl games thread

[OSUinTX]

Some bowl games can be sponsored for under $500k whick includes a handful of commercials each half and the name recognition. There will always be companies/organizations standing in line for the opportunity to host.

ESPN will essentially cover the broadcast costs because they will make money from advertising to the point of a net profit beginning before halftime.

Stadium authorities have an otherwise empty stadium...they are in.

Cities are whores and will sell their soul for the opportunity to have thousands of outsiders spending money locally for a couple days.

McKinney, Texas completed a $70M HS stadium two years ago and stands to make $1M-$2M each of the next four years hosting the DII championship game.

Everyone associated with the crappy bowls makes a ton of money.... except the schools

 

[llcoolw]

In 2002 my wife wanted to discuss a second child. I said sure if I can get to go to our bowl games for life. She just laughed and said “how many will that be? 2?” So I’m a big believer in bowl games.

 

[Bay Area Poke]

I bet the players would disagree with you.


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Some would and some wouldn’t. We’ve all seen the newish phenomenon of players voluntarily sitting out bowl games. Who knows how many more would do it if not for peer or coaching pressure. Then you have teams who were in the playoff hunt that end up missing out. I imagine players on those teams would just as soon shut it down. Not to mention some of the crappier bowl destinations (I.e. not Hawaii, Florida, or Cali). I can’t imagine that a big chunk of college kids wouldn’t rather shut it down and have their full holiday break rather than the alternative in those cases.

 

[Chunks]

Some would and some wouldn’t. We’ve all seen the newish phenomenon of players voluntarily sitting out bowl games. Who knows how many more would do it if not for peer or coaching pressure. Then you have teams who were in the playoff hunt that end up missing out. I imagine players on those teams would just as soon shut it down. Not to mention some of the crappier bowl destinations (I.e. not Hawaii, Florida, or Cali). I can’t imagine that a big chunk of college kids wouldn’t rather shut it down and have their full holiday break rather than the alternative in those cases.

The only players sitting out are JR/SR draft prospects that are not wanting to risk injury and/or start conditioning their body for the combine which is a different than "playing shape." Even then, it is usually a tough decision.

You're discounting how much passion these kids have for the game. They are competitors they want to go out and compete. Even if they are going to Shreveport, they are put-up and treated like royalty for a week, given free swag, and get to go out and play the game they love.

You think a competitor, or a 5th year senior would rather sit at home enjoying a winter break rather than being out enjoying what they love, and for some, for the last time? I think that chunk you're talking about is insignificant in size compared to the amount of players on the team that would want to play.

 

[SanditeCowboy]

The only players sitting out are JR/SR draft prospects that are not wanting to risk injury and/or start conditioning their body for the combine which is a different than "playing shape." Even then, it is usually a tough decision.

You're discounting how much passion these kids have for the game. They are competitors they want to go out and compete. Even if they are going to Shreveport, they are put-up and treated like royalty for a week, given free swag, and get to go out and play the game they love.

You think a competitor, or a 5th year senior would rather sit at home enjoying a winter break rather than being out enjoying what they love, and for some, for the last time? I think that chunk you're talking about is insignificant in size compared to the amount of players on the team that would want to play.

Not to mention the way the players are treated by the bowls. They get swag, waited on and get to visit a location generally more interesting than Stillwater or their hometown.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Count me as one who typically enjoys watching some of the lower tier bowl games, provided the matchups are at least somewhat compelling. With that said, last year's bowl pairings were the most uninteresting in memory. Hardly watched any of them aside from the NY6 and CFP. Cool story, bro;-)

The tie ins are what are bad about Bowl Games, not the number of them. Just run down the rankings pairing up the two teams ranked next to each other provided they aren't conference mates or OOC rivals.

 

[Big Daddy]

“bowl prep” is really used to develop younger players with those practices

think about the limited number of Spring and Fall practices: 14 more is Huge

 

[chip.litch]

I'm not sure why people have that attitude about the lesser bowls. I had a great time when we were in the bowl out there in Phoenix whatever they called it then. It's a chance to go on vacation somewhere, see another OSU football game, play a team we don't normally get to play. What's not to like?

Was my first bowl game. A bunch of friends and I piled into his one dude's mom's Honda Odyssey and drove from OKC to Phoenix in one day. At the game some CNN/SI photog snapped a picture of me and it later appeared online with the a caption that said something to the effect of "this cowboy's head to toe OSU suit makes him the best dressed college football fan we've seen all season."

I have a special fondness for the 2007 Insight Bowl in Tempe!

 

[SanditeCowboy]

I'm not sure why people have that attitude about the lesser bowls. I had a great time when we were in the bowl out there in Phoenix whatever they called it then. It's a chance to go on vacation somewhere, see another OSU football game, play a team we don't normally get to play. What's not to like?

Was my first bowl game. A bunch of friends and I piled into his one dude's mom's Honda Odyssey and drove from OKC to Phoenix in one day. At the game some CNN/SI photog snapped a picture of me and it later appeared online with the a caption that said something to the effect of "this cowboy's head to toe OSU suit makes him the best dressed college football fan we've seen all season."

I have a special fondness for the 2007 Insight Bowl in Tempe!

Let’s see the pic?!


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[teachum]

Was my first bowl game. A bunch of friends and I piled into his one dude's mom's Honda Odyssey and drove from OKC to Phoenix in one day. At the game some CNN/SI photog snapped a picture of me and it later appeared online with the a caption that said something to the effect of "this cowboy's head to toe OSU suit makes him the best dressed college football fan we've seen all season."

I have a special fondness for the 2007 Insight Bowl in Tempe!

Yea, we got really lucky in my friend's Mom was living out there at the time, and had a nice house she let us use while she was out of town. Shaved some $$$ off the cost of the trip, and much better digs.

 

[fratdaddy]

Per ESPN:
The Las Vegas Bowl is the 10th bowl game canceled because of the pandemic; the Bahamas, Celebration, Fenway, Hawaii, Holiday, Motor City, Pinstripe, Redbox and Sun bowls are the others.

Well I don't see the Cheezit Bowl or Heart of Dallas Bowl cancelled, so WOOOOOO LOOKS LIKE WE'RE STILL BOWLIN!!!!!!!11!!!

 

[Herecomesbullets]

I'm not sure why people have that attitude about the lesser bowls. I had a great time when we were in the bowl out there in Phoenix whatever they called it then. It's a chance to go on vacation somewhere, see another OSU football game, play a team we don't normally get to play. What's not to like?

These Bowl games allow coaches like Mike Gundy to formulate systems that allows them to become complacent

Your enjoyment of the lesser bowls are a perfect example.

Beat 3 bad non con teams
Beat Kansas
Beat 2 other conference teams that are having down years, like KState this year, then go to a bowl.

Then.... a lot of fans get to make a valuation l vacation out of it and everyone is happy.

 

[snuffy]

https://twitter.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/1335999023522656256?s=21

 

[Birry]

These Bowl games allow coaches like Mike Gundy to formulate systems that allows them to become complacent

Your enjoyment of the lesser bowls are a perfect example.

Beat 3 bad non con teams
Beat Kansas
Beat 2 other conference teams that are having down years, like KState this year, then go to a bowl.

Then.... a lot of fans get to make a valuation l vacation out of it and everyone is happy.

I'm actually ok with the existence of these game. They can be a lot of fun for everyone.

What I'm not ok with is people using bowl eligibility as part of their working definition of "success", when in reality it just means you didn't have a horrible season or finish last in your conference.

 

[LegooPokes]

Wouldn’t mind it if the one we end up in gets cancelled. I’m sure the 5,000 people planning on watching it wouldn’t be too upset either.

 

[Ridebreck]

The market was massively over-saturated with bowl games before COVID. As a casual college football fan, I'm not really seeing much downside to these games being cancelled. Frankly, I don't see how they stayed in the black in the first place.

 

[pokefan89]

From the ESPN Article about BC electing not to play their bowl game. Very interesting to me. Good points.

Athletic director Pat Kraft and coach Jeff Hafley said the decision was made as a team, after getting significant player input. They pointed to everything the players had to do to make it through a season during the coronavirus pandemic, including not being able to see friends and family after they returned to campus over the summer. In addition, there were no guarantees that any bowl they would have been selected to play in would go on as scheduled.

Since students returned to campus in late June, Boston College has administered more than 9,000 COVID-19 tests. Only one football player tested positive, in the final week of the regular season. Hafley said he noted during practice last week that his team was mentally and physically exhausted.

"For them to stay healthy and stay away from COVID, it took more out of them than anybody has any idea," Hafley said on a Zoom call with reporters. "They're worn out. As we look now with other teams continuing to battle COVID, it's getting worse, and for us to go through three weeks of practice, continue to stay healthy, continue to stay away from our families and then not know is the bowl game really going to happen? Are we going to miss Christmas with our families and then be told on the 25th that we're really not going to play?

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-college-passes-playing-bowl-game-2020-season

 

[CocoCincinnati]

I love bowl season, hopefully most of them still happen. The most fun I've had on a bowl trip was aaalllllll the way back in 97 at the Alamo Bowl. We are still telling stories about that trip. Been to several since, some good some average. Still, I like being able to get home from work on a Tuesday in late December and watch some college football.

 

[teachum]

I love bowl season, hopefully most of them still happen. The most fun I've had on a bowl trip was aaalllllll the way back in 97 at the Alamo Bowl. We are still telling stories about that trip. Been to several since, some good some average. Still, I like being able to get home from work on a Tuesday in late December and watch some college football.

The Alamo is always one of my favorites. Way more enjoyable than the Cotton Bowl, even though the Cotton is more prestigious, give me San Antonio any day.

 

[teachum]

These Bowl games allow coaches like Mike Gundy to formulate systems that allows them to become complacent

Your enjoyment of the lesser bowls are a perfect example.

Beat 3 bad non con teams
Beat Kansas
Beat 2 other conference teams that are having down years, like KState this year, then go to a bowl.

Then.... a lot of fans get to make a valuation l vacation out of it and everyone is happy.

I think you are overthinking it a bit. It is just a game, and entertainment after all, so more is better IMO. You don't have to attend, just an option. And you don't have to be satisfied by getting curb stomped by ou every year. However, after the last regular season game, and a month before the bowl game, knowing it will be several months before we get to see any college football at all, I'll take it over nada.