Military Bowl...Duke vs. UCF

[DS2001]

A whopping crowd of 17,974 in Annapolis Maryland watch the Dukies roll over Gus Malzahn and the Knights 30-13 in the Military Bowl...I wonder what some of these bowls are thinking when they can't draw 18,000 to a bowl game? The NCAA should tighten up on Bowl qualifications when the new contracts are renegotiated for 2026.

[freckles]

It's not like Vandy will generate a huge crowd on a regular basis...

[Labradore]

We’ve drawn much better than that for every recent bowl we’ve been in.

[freckles]

We’ve drawn much better than that for every recent bowl we’ve been in.

While possible, anecdotal evidence suggests not.

At the 2018 Texas Bowl, "More than 51,000 fans filled Houston’s NRG Stadium, and most estimates suggested Baylor fans made up 75-80% of that total."

https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/201 ... exas-bowl/

At the 2016 Independence Bowl, one fan commented, "I was there. Definitely less than 20K in attendance, many of whom were wearing LaTech gear."

[MrMemorial]

We’ve drawn much better than that for every recent bowl we’ve been in.

While possible, anecdotal evidence suggests not.

At the 2018 Texas Bowl, "More than 51,000 fans filled Houston’s NRG Stadium, and most estimates suggested Baylor fans made up 75-80% of that total."

https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/201 ... exas-bowl/

At the 2016 Independence Bowl, one fan commented, "I was there. Definitely less than 20K in attendance, many of whom were wearing LaTech gear."

I missed the Indy Bowl but was present at the Texas Bowl. The showing by VU fans was good. Better than the Baylor homer gives us credit for. All three bowls under James Franklin had BIG showings by VU fans.

Were you present at any of those?

[VUDU]

I don't agree with or understand why people call for cutting the number of bowls. First of all, they're mainly there for TV purposes as college football is ESPN's biggest ratings draw after the NFL. The in-person attendance is sort of not really important. I think just about all of the bowls, even the most minor ones, get at least a million TV viewers, which is more than just about anything else that ESPN could put on. Secondly, if you don't like there being so many bowls, just don't watch them. Some people enjoy bowl season, so why advocate taking that away from them and from the fans of the teams involved? And lastly, from a personal standpoint, Vanderbilt fans (most of us anyway) are always excited when we go to a bowl, even at 6-6, so why call for fewer bowls?

[DS2001]

VUDU makes some good points, although I would argue that some of the bowl games are not "rewards" for the players on teams that go 6-6 or 5-7, but rather "Sentences" that they have to serve during the holiday season when they would rather be at home. I think what is no doubt going to happen in this next round of bowl negotiations is that the players themselves are going to be "paid' to play in the bowl games. It will be called a "Participation Stipend" or some other term, but with the advent of NIL, the schools and conferences shouldn't be paid all this bowl money, the players should be compensated to play in them.

[AuricGoldfinger]

There is apparently a move afoot to overhaul the bowl game structure, including tightening eligibility for bowls and possibly eliminating some of them: https://www.si.com/college/2022/12/28/b ... g-overhaul.

But that is foolishly naive, for this reason alone:

In 2021, bowl games—including CFP bowls—averaged 4.7 million viewers. That number eclipsed the average viewership for a MLB playoff game that season (3.48M). This year’s Vegas Bowl pulled in 2.5 million viewers to beat several other programs airing on the same week, including WWE Smackdown on Fox (2.2M), UCLA-Kentucky basketball on CBS (2M) and a Celtics-Lakers NBA game televised on ESPN (1.7M).

The bowl games are so important to ESPN (which owns many of them) that the network was prepared to create another bowl game at the last minute this year if there weren't enough of them for every team that finished 6-6.

There will never be fewer bowls.

[MrMemorial]

There is apparently a move afoot to overhaul the bowl game structure, including tightening eligibility for bowls and possibly eliminating some of them: https://www.si.com/college/2022/12/28/b ... g-overhaul.

But that is foolishly naive, for this reason alone:

In 2021, bowl games—including CFP bowls—averaged 4.7 million viewers. That number eclipsed the average viewership for a MLB playoff game that season (3.48M). This year’s Vegas Bowl pulled in 2.5 million viewers to beat several other programs airing on the same week, including WWE Smackdown on Fox (2.2M), UCLA-Kentucky basketball on CBS (2M) and a Celtics-Lakers NBA game televised on ESPN (1.7M).

The bowl games are so important to ESPN (which owns many of them) that the network was prepared to create another bowl game at the last minute this year if there weren't enough of them for every team that finished 6-6.

There will never be fewer bowls.

Time for yet another contest!!

Names for the yet to happen ESPN not-played-yet bowl.

OK...me first...

The Passmore Gas & Propane Blennerhassett Bowl in Parkersburg WV

The Narcan Fentanyl Bowl in Chillicothe OH**

**Back your car into that parking space so your catalytic converter doesn't get stolen

[VUDU]

VUDU makes some good points, although I would argue that some of the bowl games are not "rewards" for the players on teams that go 6-6 or 5-7, but rather "Sentences" that they have to serve during the holiday season when they would rather be at home.

I don't think Vanderbilt players ever felt that way, but I could be wrong. It always seemed like our players (and fans, too) considered it an achievement to go to a bowl.

[Vandy84]

We’ve drawn much better than that for every recent bowl we’ve been in.

While possible, anecdotal evidence suggests not.

At the 2018 Texas Bowl, "More than 51,000 fans filled Houston’s NRG Stadium, and most estimates suggested Baylor fans made up 75-80% of that total."

https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/201 ... exas-bowl/

At the 2016 Independence Bowl, one fan commented, "I was there. Definitely less than 20K in attendance, many of whom were wearing LaTech gear."

I missed the Indy Bowl but was present at the Texas Bowl. The showing by VU fans was good. Better than the Baylor homer gives us credit for. All three bowls under James Franklin had BIG showings by VU fans.

Were you present at any of those?

I was at both the Texas Bowl in 2018 and the Independence Bowl in 2016. I agree that Vanderbilt was well represented by fans at the Texas Bowl.

The Independence Bowl was an afternoon start on a warm, windy and rainy day. There were a lot of Vanderbilt fans at the tailgate event before the game, but only a small fraction of Vanderbilt fans compared with the fans at the Texas Bowl, the Compass Bowl, the two Music City Bowls or the Liberty Bowl. The overall attendance was horrible, and there were a lot of empty seats. However, it appeared that Vanderbilt fans outnumbered the NC State fans. The game was on December 26 such that most fans who lived beyond a 4-5 hour driving distance had to travel on or before Christmas day. I am sure the date, weather, location and the caliber of the bowl game impacted attendance.

I have been to all of the bowl games listed above as well as the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1982. Given the number of alums and size of the fan base, I have been impressed at the number of Vanderbilt fans in attendance at those games.

[VUgearhead]

There is apparently a move afoot to overhaul the bowl game structure, including tightening eligibility for bowls and possibly eliminating some of them: https://www.si.com/college/2022/12/28/b ... g-overhaul.

But that is foolishly naive, for this reason alone:

In 2021, bowl games—including CFP bowls—averaged 4.7 million viewers. That number eclipsed the average viewership for a MLB playoff game that season (3.48M). This year’s Vegas Bowl pulled in 2.5 million viewers to beat several other programs airing on the same week, including WWE Smackdown on Fox (2.2M), UCLA-Kentucky basketball on CBS (2M) and a Celtics-Lakers NBA game televised on ESPN (1.7M).

The bowl games are so important to ESPN (which owns many of them) that the network was prepared to create another bowl game at the last minute this year if there weren't enough of them for every team that finished 6-6.

There will never be fewer bowls.

Time for yet another contest!!

Names for the yet to happen ESPN not-played-yet bowl.

OK...me first...

The Passmore Gas & Propane Blennerhassett Bowl in Parkersburg WV

The Narcan Fentanyl Bowl in Chillicothe OH**

**Back your car into that parking space so your catalytic converter doesn't get stolen

My personal vote would be for the start of the HIllbilly Bowl in Morgantown, WV sponsored by Outback Steakhouse (Outback Hillbilly Bowl - what a name!).

Another good choice would be the Kohler Toilet Bowl in Sheboygan, WI.

[MrMemorial]

There is apparently a move afoot to overhaul the bowl game structure, including tightening eligibility for bowls and possibly eliminating some of them: https://www.si.com/college/2022/12/28/b ... g-overhaul.

But that is foolishly naive, for this reason alone:

In 2021, bowl games—including CFP bowls—averaged 4.7 million viewers. That number eclipsed the average viewership for a MLB playoff game that season (3.48M). This year’s Vegas Bowl pulled in 2.5 million viewers to beat several other programs airing on the same week, including WWE Smackdown on Fox (2.2M), UCLA-Kentucky basketball on CBS (2M) and a Celtics-Lakers NBA game televised on ESPN (1.7M).

The bowl games are so important to ESPN (which owns many of them) that the network was prepared to create another bowl game at the last minute this year if there weren't enough of them for every team that finished 6-6.

There will never be fewer bowls.

Time for yet another contest!!

Names for the yet to happen ESPN not-played-yet bowl.

OK...me first...

The Passmore Gas & Propane Blennerhassett Bowl in Parkersburg WV

The Narcan Fentanyl Bowl in Chillicothe OH**

**Back your car into that parking space so your catalytic converter doesn't get stolen

My personal vote would be for the start of the HIllbilly Bowl in Morgantown, WV sponsored by Outback Steakhouse (Outback Hillbilly Bowl - what a name!).

Another good choice would be the Kohler Toilet Bowl in Sheboygan, WI.

Have you ever driven in Morgantown...the old parts away from campus?

Scary. Even with a 4 wheel drive in good weather. Downhill drops comparable to a roller coaster. I don't want to be a jerk about it, but it seems like a person would have to have a screw loose to live on a street like that...and some of the worst/steepest are narrow like a paved alleyway.

[coachinwaiting]

Bowls survive and thrive on TV contract money and corporate sponsorships. I have no current numbers but a decade ago a lot of the empty seats in the lesser bowl games were paid for by corporate donors, but never used.