Are Bowls Dying?

Rufaninga

All-Conference
Oct 8, 2010
3,873
4,407
0
Draft opt outs are fine. Need to close the portal and the recruiting of portal players until after the national championship
Cane to say THIS

Add to this schools cannot hire a new coach until after national championship either.

Move signing day back if necessary for new coaches (but most do early anyway so less of a concern)
 

Ridge 22

All-American
Jun 30, 2007
7,343
9,401
98
Live sport content is king. Sport media will make it their business to keep folks interested.
No chance these minor bowls continue to pay full rate given the way the players are now treating these games. The value of the minor bowl game has been significantly diminished
 
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NBKnight

Heisman
Jul 8, 2008
24,585
15,502
61
Draft opt outs are fine. Need to close the portal and the recruiting of portal players until after the national championship
No chance of that happening. Guys who are planning to enter the portal are still going to opt out. Plus, if the portal does not open until after the championship game, it would be very difficult for a player to enroll for the spring semester. Schools and players would not want that.
 

TM94goRU

Heisman
Dec 12, 2020
14,915
13,474
113
Bowls won't die because they get higher TV ratings and viewership than anything else, except the NFL. Bowl viewership blows away college basketball and the NBA.
Sadly they will for many if this downturn continues. My proof is the downturn in NBA and MLB games viewership. Hell after last night the NFL better tread lightly. The attendance is already in decline for CFB.
 
Dec 17, 2008
45,215
16,775
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This isn’t particularly related to bowls but if something like this can still survive then bowls shouldn’t have an issue and as I posted above the ratings still prove it.

 

WhiteBus

Heisman
Oct 4, 2011
39,355
21,739
113
This isn’t particularly related to bowls but if something like this can still survive then bowls shouldn’t have an issue and as I posted above the ratings still prove it.


It's not really surviving. They are combining 2 leagues and cutting the amount of teams.
 

Fat Koko

All-Conference
Nov 28, 2022
2,507
2,059
73
Betteridge - “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
 
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fsg2_rivals

Heisman
Apr 3, 2018
10,881
13,184
0
Not if our fanbase has a say . We had 35k at a crapy bowl in what many would say is a meaningless exhibition with watch parties all over the USA

That's what's funny about this thread. All these same posters celebrating a hard-fought RU win in a meaningless bowl no one seems to like with plenty of opt-outs ...and rightfully so.

Some good games, some bad games ...just like always. All better for all parties than the international ice curling or pickup pinball league ESPN could have been broadcasting all week.
 

RU from Jersey_rivals

All-Conference
Jan 16, 2002
2,609
1,645
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With the opt out issue becoming bigger and bigger, the playoffs will definitely expand to 16 teams in the near future. This will stop 12 additional teams(vs today) from having their players opting out.
 
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Ridge 22

All-American
Jun 30, 2007
7,343
9,401
98
They are still are getting great ratings so it will continue. The Bowls don't control the payouts, their TV contracts do.
Exactly. And the networks and sponsors aren't going to continue to pay for this level of diluted product. You honestly think they are happy about the opt outs? In some games it is close to half of the team. If you can't see this current system is broken and no longer viable, it isn't worth my effort trying to explain it to you further
 

WhiteBus

Heisman
Oct 4, 2011
39,355
21,739
113
Exactly. And the networks and sponsors aren't going to continue to pay for this level of diluted product. You honestly think they are happy about the opt outs? In some games it is close to half of the team. If you can't see this current system is broken and no longer viable, it isn't worth my effort trying to explain it to you further
Check the ratings. They've been great. Why do you keep pushing the negatives. Ratings drives the money. Maybe you should make an effort to understand why ratings = $.
 

jerzey devil

All-American
Aug 16, 2004
6,999
9,673
113
Yep, bowls will exist but schools will start turning down, and that will be the end
Ummmmm NO WAY IN HELL WILL ANY SCHOOL TURN DOWN ANY BOWL!!!! It's basically a second spring practice period!!! There ain't a coach alive who would turn down a chance to spend 7-10 practices working on developing/evaluating the younger players in their programs...
 

RUdude

Senior
Sep 2, 2014
1,030
676
113
Sadly they will for many if this downturn continues. My proof is the downturn in NBA and MLB games viewership. Hell after last night the NFL better tread lightly. The attendance is already in decline for CFB.
viewership is relative...also demographics...

personally i think the length of season is determining factor in NBA/MLB, yet college world series has highest rating ever...


https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/20...p-past-30-years-analysis-where-league-stands/


It may be cold comfort that the league has been in far worse situations before — the 16% decline from 2017-18 to the current season pales in comparison to the 49% plunge from 1998-99 to 2002-03 or even the 26% drop from the 2001-02 to 2006-07 — but that does not make it any less true. It is not exactly saying much that the league is outdrawing baseball, hockey and college basketball, but again that does not make it any less true.
 
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dconifer0

All-Conference
Oct 4, 2004
4,235
3,256
113
"Making a bowl game" isn't the same as when most of us were young. It's hard for us to get used to. And yeah, it's watered down teams that we're seeing in some cases. But we all still watched our teams this year in spite all of that.

The bowls we remember so fondly from our younger days weren't the same as what our fathers watched. Things change. Sometimes I laugh when I read that my favorite team was voted national champion one year, and then lost their bowl game the next week.

Things change, but I think there will be forty-something bowl games on TV in December for a long time...
 

zappaa

Heisman
Jul 27, 2001
73,422
89,586
103
Don’t know, outside of the Pinstripe Bowl I haven’t watched one, Don’t know who’s playing and have no interest.

I will watch final 4 tomorrow because all four teams are totally invested
 

brgRC90

Heisman
Apr 8, 2008
34,957
15,858
0
Well on
Yes.

All of CFB is dying.



PAYWALL SO:

The Year College Football Ate Itself

After months of maneuvering and spending—farewell, Pac 12; hello $75 million for Jimbo Fisher—it’s impossible to pretend it’s anything but another ruthless business

I will indulge reasonable arguments to the contrary, but only one event deserves to be called the biggest sports story of 2023.

This is the year college football ate itself...

What happened in college football in 2023 will reverberate for decades, and probably forever.

Denial has died, and the myth has left town on a Gulfstream 800. College football’s stubborn delusion that it was something apart and elevated from professional sports—an activity less about dollars than about tradition, loyalty and (laugh track) amateurism—hopped on a jet from the West Coast and flew east for better deals with deeper pockets...

The money’s been around for eons, as have eager sponsors, surrogates, pushy boosters and middle men feeding under-the-table money to athletes capable of tilting the field. It has long been true that the top-paid state employee in most U.S. states isn’t a governor or university president, but the head football coach.

In recent years, however, the money got too extreme to laugh off or ignore—the lavish salaries of head coaches, assistant coaches, assistants to the assistants, strength czars, nutritionists and specialists, to say nothing of the training facilities that would make Knute Rockne feel like he’d been beamed to the Year 3000...

Television deals have swelled from millions to billions, and we know all about it, because schools brag about it, and the business of college sports has evolved into a sport of its own. At the same time, the tumult of the transfer portal and the nascent economy of name, image and likeness (NIL) have made it clear there’s a robust paying market for college athletes.

It’s right in our faces. No one even tries to shame or deny it anymore. The NCAA, facing growing antitrust scrutiny, is finally rushing in with a proposal for paying players and it all feels a little insincere and very behind...

We’re approaching a seismic new chapter, and yet the field feels fragile. The NCAA, slow to everything, is laying the groundwork for a “super league” approach, with the biggest, best-funded schools breaking away from the lesser-funded riff raff to create their own system. Television networks—the hands behind the curtains here—will surely want a say in who makes the cut. Feelings are sure to get hurt. In any reorganization, low-rated schools are going to get dropped.

I’m probably a hopeless naif, but maybe there’s opportunity here—for the craziest schools to run off and for the rest of the colleges and universities to tap the brakes and return to a version of athletics that’s less lucrative, but saner.
Well on its way to becoming a poor imitation of the NFL.
 
Dec 17, 2008
45,215
16,775
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It’s paywall but an excerpt:

Bowl games that aren’t part of the College Football Playoff apparatus should continue to lean into the silliness because it’s what differentiates these games from the regular season. Bowl games are supposed to be fun. They’re supposed to be a reward for players at the end of the year, and what’s better than getting to eat a giant Pop-Tart? Or watching your head coach get doused in mayo? Food sponsors are certainly getting a great return on investment — the Pop-Tarts Bowl generated $12,098,187 in earned media according to Apex Marketing — and the weirder, the better. I had a cousin who knows nothing about sports texting me Pop-Tart mascot memes. I hope she keeps sending them.
 

TM94goRU

Heisman
Dec 12, 2020
14,915
13,474
113
viewership is relative...also demographics...

personally i think the length of season is determining factor in NBA/MLB, yet college world series has highest rating ever...


https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/20...p-past-30-years-analysis-where-league-stands/


It may be cold comfort that the league has been in far worse situations before — the 16% decline from 2017-18 to the current season pales in comparison to the 49% plunge from 1998-99 to 2002-03 or even the 26% drop from the 2001-02 to 2006-07 — but that does not make it any less true. It is not exactly saying much that the league is outdrawing baseball, hockey and college basketball, but again that does not make it any less true.
My point should not be taken as a today snapshot. Once you hallowout diehard fans, the product suffers even if it is propped up by outside money. Look at the football Giants now having some tickets to sell for regular season home games. I'm not ancient, and when I was younger you couldn't get Giants regular season game tickets unless you paid a scalper or were close to a season ticket holder. The list was years long. If your name was called and you didn't go, too bad back to the bottom. I even had my coach in youth flag football miss our championship game for This exact reason. This is why some Giants fans purchased Jets season tickets when they moved to Giants Stadium. That is right, they hoped to trade Jets tickets for Giants tickets.

The same thoughts some have expressed about not watching bowl games, with the exception of us and the final 4 will only grow! That is what I was getting at with viewership, and not just for bowl games, as the experience gets worse and less enjoyable, people find other things to do. Today's problems are just starting, it will get WORSE in time!
 

TM94goRU

Heisman
Dec 12, 2020
14,915
13,474
113
Lol it depends on the person! Look at the ratings for the NBA in the 90's, with millions more people here ratings are down by millions. Also for the same reasons attendance is down and why you can't look weekly and see accurate viewership, between streaming and other online activities people have more options on how they spend their time!

That said some Bowls will survive, just like the 🏈 factories that print money, the thing is there will be less bowls, and less top tier teams in time.
 

angmo

All-Conference
Jul 24, 2017
2,138
2,317
113
The Funeral Bowl.

 

RUdude

Senior
Sep 2, 2014
1,030
676
113
My point should not be taken as a today snapshot. Once you hallowout diehard fans, the product suffers even if it is propped up by outside money. Look at the football Giants now having some tickets to sell for regular season home games. I'm not ancient, and when I was younger you couldn't get Giants regular season game tickets unless you paid a scalper or were close to a season ticket holder. The list was years long. If your name was called and you didn't go, too bad back to the bottom. I even had my coach in youth flag football miss our championship game for This exact reason. This is why some Giants fans purchased Jets season tickets when they moved to Giants Stadium. That is right, they hoped to trade Jets tickets for Giants tickets.

The same thoughts some have expressed about not watching bowl games, with the exception of us and the final 4 will only grow! That is what I was getting at with viewership, and not just for bowl games, as the experience gets worse and less enjoyable, people find other things to do. Today's problems are just starting, it will get WORSE in time!


Prior to the Giants’ move to MetLife Stadium in 2010, the team had a ridiculously long waiting list that was over 70,000 names long. However, the Giants no longer have a season ticket waiting list thanks to the Personal Seat Licenses the team used to finance the building of MetLife Stadium.

....decrease in demand/attendance is attributed to product....
 
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bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
238,278
168,014
113
The “opt out” stuff is what is killing bowls. It’s a pretty stupid procedure in its current state and is likely to change, so no not giving up hope yet. They cant do anything immediately but rules will come out because the current process (Transfer portal existing + opening before bowl games + NIL + sit out year rule gone) is a complete disaster for the sport (only good for the players who can take advantage of it, and terrible for everyone else). The inmates run the asylum right now. They make lots of money but its because fans/alumni/donors who pay them and also are the ones watching the games hence driving up the huge TV $$ deals, want to be entertained and see their team win. This is a self-fixing problem, but will take much less time if someone steps in and starts regulating it.

Players should lose NIL if they opt out

Just like an nfl player cant opt out of playing
 
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The RUT

Heisman
Oct 30, 2011
35,170
18,783
61
There are 43 bowl games. 86 teams.

As of right now, it’s not uncommon for 5-7 teams to fill spots each year.

What I see in the future is a 16 team playoff. All opening rounds taking place on campus.

Elite 8 taking place at NYD bowl sites and then a “Final Four” all in one location.

That leaves 70 teams that would be left out, I see this number getting cut in half to 36 bowl eligible teams.

The format? 110% regional. Think Rutgers vs Syracuse in Pinstripe or Maryland vs Virginia Tech in Annapolis.

These regional games will draw well from an attendance standpoint and will do very well from a TV perspective relative to the Miami (Ohio) vs Ball State type games.
 

RUTGERS95

Heisman
Sep 28, 2005
26,145
35,062
113
There are 43 bowl games. 86 teams.

As of right now, it’s not uncommon for 5-7 teams to fill spots each year.

What I see in the future is a 16 team playoff. All opening rounds taking place on campus.

Elite 8 taking place at NYD bowl sites and then a “Final Four” all in one location.

That leaves 70 teams that would be left out, I see this number getting cut in half to 36 bowl eligible teams.

The format? 110% regional. Think Rutgers vs Syracuse in Pinstripe or Maryland vs Virginia Tech in Annapolis.

These regional games will draw well from an attendance standpoint and will do very well from a TV perspective relative to the Miami (Ohio) vs Ball State type games.
my only problem with that is it makes it easier for nd to get in :)
 

WhiteBus

Heisman
Oct 4, 2011
39,355
21,739
113
There are 43 bowl games. 86 teams.

As of right now, it’s not uncommon for 5-7 teams to fill spots each year.

What I see in the future is a 16 team playoff. All opening rounds taking place on campus.

Elite 8 taking place at NYD bowl sites and then a “Final Four” all in one location.

That leaves 70 teams that would be left out, I see this number getting cut in half to 36 bowl eligible teams.

The format? 110% regional. Think Rutgers vs Syracuse in Pinstripe or Maryland vs Virginia Tech in Annapolis.

These regional games will draw well from an attendance standpoint and will do very well from a TV perspective relative to the Miami (Ohio) vs Ball State type games.
Sorry but you're clueless or you just like talking bad about bowl games.
 
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