Why Rutgers will have harder time reaching bowl games in near future
Changes to the current bowl structure appear to be imminent, per a report from Sports Illustrated.
Why Rutgers will have harder time reaching bowl games in near future
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
The article discusses reducing the number of bowl games per year
If you look at the attendance figures for the bowl games played so far this year, it's pretty clear that fan interest in most bowl games has declined dramatically since the last time RU was involved. There are several explanations:
1. The playoff system render most bowls meaningless
2. Many more bowl slots are going to schools with no real history of having fan bases that travel.
3. Many bowls have no name and, therefore, no identity. Many have brand names, which can change and regularly do, but no bowl names that remain and give the event an identity and sense of place. As I looked at the list of bowls, I had no sense of where to book flights to/from. People won't spend a lot of money and time to go to a bowl that no one has ever heard of. No real pizazz in that.
My preference is a 32 team playoff system that will allow more teams to aspire to making it into the tournament, much like the basketball tournaments do. Each of the ten D1 conferences would earn a bid and the other 22 would be at-large bids. There could be a set of requirements established for the selection of those.
1. The playoff system render most bowls meaningless
2. Many more bowl slots are going to schools with no real history of having fan bases that travel.
3. Many bowls have no name and, therefore, no identity. Many have brand names, which can change and regularly do, but no bowl names that remain and give the event an identity and sense of place. As I looked at the list of bowls, I had no sense of where to book flights to/from. People won't spend a lot of money and time to go to a bowl that no one has ever heard of. No real pizazz in that.
My preference is a 32 team playoff system that will allow more teams to aspire to making it into the tournament, much like the basketball tournaments do. Each of the ten D1 conferences would earn a bid and the other 22 would be at-large bids. There could be a set of requirements established for the selection of those.
Bowls don’t care about attendance it’s about live TV.
No. 5-6 teams in each of the last 2 years.
They'll have to fight ESPN on that one. Even miserable ratings beat their regular programming.
But don't they make a lot more money off of ticket sales than they do from what ESPN pays them to televise them - I'm talking about the many minor bowls here, most of which were set up by and for ESPN. And the payouts to the teams for a number of those are quite low, not even covering what the schools pay to take the team, band, etc. there. No school should be accepting bowl bids to bowls that won't even cover their costs. That is really stupid.
Are bowls still requiring that schools guarantee a certain number of tickets to be sold, the way there were 10-12 years ago. I recall UConn losing around $1 million to go the Fiesta Bowl because they didn't sell very many tickets.
Should be 8-4 with 7-5 in situations where there aren’t enough 8 win teams. Make getting to a bowl a challenge like it was in the early 90s. Then these games would be worth watching. 6-6 teams should be no where near a bowl imo
Harder time ????
We made 1 bowl game legitimately in 10 years!! 2014
The 2013 team stunk
We made 1 bowl game legitimately in 10 years!! 2014
The 2013 team stunk
Obviously you're not as old as I am! I remember when 8-2 was a bare minimum.
This. Sports content is nil during the weekdays in December so ESPN will fund the Bowl payouts to fill their schedules . Ratings continue to be a success for them.
As for Rutgers when we finally get to 6 wins ..hopefully within 3 years… you will see a huge turnout for the live audience by RU fans wherever the Bowl is. Pent up demand.
I remember when Rutgers went 7-4 in '92 and didn't sniff a bowl invite. That loss to Cincinnati killed them. 8 would have gotten it done that year I do believe. I prefer that model over what we have today.
Wow - more teams make bowls (80) than do not (49). It’s hard to get your head around that math.
Using bowl games as NIL incentive/vehicle is actually an interesting concept and one that schools might endorse as defacto fundraising events.
All of this fuzzy math does make you wonder when the bubble will burst.
Using bowl games as NIL incentive/vehicle is actually an interesting concept and one that schools might endorse as defacto fundraising events.
All of this fuzzy math does make you wonder when the bubble will burst.
I certainly hope it’s not so but based on the leadership of the program that might be realistic.
IIRC, Rutgers sniffed it (Independence Bowl) but didn't ultimately get it (lost out to a 6-5 Oregon team, I think) because of the Cincy loss as you mentioned. Relative strength of schedule may have been a consideration in UO's favor as the Big East likely wasn't viewed as favorably as the Pac 10. Recall that it wasn't a full round-robin BE schedule until 1993, i.e. Rutgers didn't play Miami in 1992.
