40th bowl game to be created
We've gone from 28 bowl games to 40 bowl games in 9 years. 80 teams will now play in bowl games. Jesus Christ make it stop!
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10784863/aac-sun-belt-pl…
April 15th, 2014 at 10:25 PM ^
that we make some bowl this year just grew a little.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
I don't think that's the case. The bowl-eligible teams that are not making bowl games are from conferences like the Sun Belt. If a Big Ten team is bowl eligible, they go to a bowl, whether there are 30 bowls or 40. The 2 teams that will benefit from the addition of another bowl are probably both 7-5 (maybe 8-4) teams from terrible conferences.
This helps Western Michigan get to a bowl, not Michigan.
If there is money to be gained by all 3 parites (2 schools and the bowl) then you can bet the number of bowl games will keep going up.
Most schools don't make money on bowl games.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:54 PM ^
I guess schools figure the exposure or the recruiting benefit of being able to say "We went to a bowl game" is worth the thousands of dollars in losses to them
April 15th, 2014 at 11:05 PM ^
Although I'd hesitate to call bowl games a "vacation" per se, they are a sort of reward for the hardwork put into creating a good season. And that reward (similar to a vaction) is not really about making money at its heart.
Thanks to schools being forced to pay for unrealistic amounts of tickets, the schools lose on fleabag bowls.
We'll still have 4 games going on at the same time on New Years Day.
April 16th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
And all B1G, right? Worst scheduling ever. Oh cool. 4 of the bowl games I'm most interested in, and I can only watch 1 of them.
It does benefit breast cancer charities, so that's good, but yeah 40 is a lot of bowl games.
Pardon me. I forgot the playoffs will be two bowls, so only 78 teams. Still...
Or we could make it international and put it in Bangor, Saskatchewan. Population: 50.
What I'd love to see is a single, incredibly desirable game for the worst two BCS programs (without adding any other bowls). Put it in Honolulu, make the gifts incredible, play it on Christmas Eve on ESPN, call in the Better Than Your Stupid Bowl, etc. That way, teams would have to make a midseason decision about whether to try to "Shoot the Moon" - in Hearts terms - and risk looking like dicks if they finish as the third worst team and miss the bowl.
Call it the toilet bowl and hold it in East Lansing, I mean Columbus.
April 16th, 2014 at 12:45 PM ^
The First Annual Monrovia Bowl. Played at noon on Christmas in Monrovia, Liberia, so it can be shown live on ESPN2 at about 4 AM Christmas morning.
I'm not complaining. It's more football to watch.
Right now (in April), I would watch that game so hard.
Good. Maybe then Michigan will have a chance of winning.
*ducks*
"Football is football."
Do you enjoy watching pee-wee games?
judging us!
Hey, if you like it, go for it. That little Sam Gordon sure was fun to watch.
With some "playoff" teams potentially playing in two games in two consecutive weeks, what's to stop a non-playoff team from participating in two bowl games? Considering that the bowl season now stretches from mid-december to nearly mid-january?
It's not like I'm angry that ESPN will be showing some MAC-CUSA game instead of ....
Nobody is forcing me to watch these games.
The school can decline the invitation.
The Grey Poupon bowl for teams that probably suck. I for one look forward to this riveting matchup.
Well seeing that their were 81 teams who were Bowl Eligible (I counted those that were banned) last year, I think that 78 teams going bowling is the most they can do unless they want to let non >= .500 teams make it.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:09 PM ^
One more bowl game is no skin off my back. Everyone knows what the good ones are anyways. In the end, it doesn't even matter, though I did try hard and got pretty far.
Assuming the number of teams joining Division one does not, on average, outstrip the average addition of bowl games to the slate, then we're looking at close to total saturation in...oh...20-25 years, if I am guessing correctly. A bowl game between 3-9 teams seems like a strangely realistic possibility within the next 10-15 years or so now - I hope it is sponsored by One Hour Martinizing for some reason.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^
If you like wagering on games - handicapping a game between a 4-6 and 5-5 team is far more difficult than with a 10-0 and a 9-1 team.
The playoff system next year will inevitably expand - and one day will have 16 teams; the regular season will be jockeying for playoff inclusion and position.
the number of bowls would decline if the NCAA made a simple rule change about post season practice. Allow all programs, whether or not they participate in a post-season bowl, the same amount and type of practices between the conclusion of their last regular season game and the Championship Bowl.
For decades it was argued that implementing a playoff system would destroy the bowl games.
Maybe it takes a few years - and a few extra bowl games added first - before it all collapses.