Not counting strength of schedule is how you get Oklahoma making it in and frauds like Baylol and Utah within a hare's breath of making it in themselves

The bowl games used to mean something when their were only fifteen or so. Now there's 40 and 6-6 teams get invited.

I remember New Years day at a friends where they had several TV's set up in different rooms in their house with bowl games on all day. All the major networks had a game at noon, 3:30 and 7 PM. Now, ESPN has them starting in early December and people are just not going to tune in to watch 6-6 Florida Int. play 7-5 Arkansas State. Attendance at athletic events in general is also way down from 30-years go.

Threadbare said:

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Evanhue said:

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It's hard to get excited to play Baylor. I can see Georgia fans not wanting to spend the money to travel to watch this matchup.

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There is no getting around that the existence of the play-off devalues the bowls.

In the past, winning this trophy meant you either won the SEC, or you beat the SEC champion in their biggest game of the year. Now it doesn't mean much of anything.

Expect more and more of this trend in coming years.

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Orange Bowl slotted in on Dec. 30 ... it ain't like it used to be. That used to be the game where I was finally back among the living after a raucous New Year's Eve and fragile New Year morning ...

Kentatm said:

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#Mke said:

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dixichkn said:

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$6 tickets and they still couldn't pack the place. Shameful

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Texas Bowl was damn near full, and tickets went for a minimum of $35. Looks like it did better than the Sugar Bowl. Sorry Dallas Ags!

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Dallas Ags have what to do with the Baylor/UGA Sugar attendance?

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Dallas Ags are the ones who constantly talk crap about the Texas Bowl so I just enjoy seeing it have a better turnout than a NY6 Bowl

dixichkn.. said:

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...within a hare's breath...

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Hair's breadth. The width, or thickness, of a hair.

Forgive him. He's lactose & tolerant.

Threadbare said:

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Evanhue said:

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It's hard to get excited to play Baylor. I can see Georgia fans not wanting to spend the money to travel to watch this matchup.

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There is no getting around that the existence of the play-off devalues the bowls.

In the past, winning this trophy meant you either won the SEC, or you beat the SEC champion in their biggest game of the year. Now it doesn't mean much of anything.

Expect more and more of this trend in coming years.

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this. eliminate do not expand the playoff

I'd just go to NOLA to party... Meet y'all at the lafittes for purples and Vegas bombs at 10am. 2am comm out rejoin at bandstand to see who's still alive--standard gameplan.

The market is never wrong, though. If the bowl organizers are making money on the games, there will be bowls. If the conferences are making money overall on the ball games, they will continue to participate.

Once in a blue moon, you will see a team turn down a bowl bid because it would constitute a net negative financial impact. But that is becoming less common.

The bottom line is that if money is being made from these games, that means people want to see these games. Otherwise, there would be no money in it.

Bison said:

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The market is never wrong, though. If the bowl organizers are making money on the games, there will be bowls. If the conferences are making money overall on the ball games, they will continue to participate.

Once in a blue moon, you will see a team turn down a bowl bid because it would constitute a net negative financial impact. But that is becoming less common.

The bottom line is that if money is being made from these games, that means people want to see these games. Otherwise, there would be no money in it.

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The money is coming from sponsors and advertisers. During the holidays, a lot of TVs are tuned to football.

NyAggie said:

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Quote:

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There is no getting around that the existence of the play-off devalues the bowls.

In the past, winning this trophy meant you either won the SEC, or you beat the SEC champion in their biggest game of the year. Now it doesn't mean much of anything.

Expect more and more of this trend in coming years.

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Exactly

Prec bcs/playoff, you played to get into one of these big bowls and then you played hard to represent and achieve the highest ranking that you could

It was an honor to play in a major bowl

Now if you aren't in the playoffs these games are a letdown

Plus, years ago a team like Baylor never would have been picked to play in one of these big games unless they got the auto bid by winning their conference

Years ago they tried to get the best teams that would travel well

a 2 loss notre dame certainly would have gotten a major bowl invite in those days

You would have had a slate of games looking more like this;

Rose: Ohio st vs Oregon
Sugar: LSU vs Clemson
Cotton: Oklahoma vs Georgia
Fiesta: Alabama vs notre dame
Orange: Florida vs penn st

And all the teams would have played hard

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I am old enough to remember when the Fiesta Bowl was a second tier bowl game with no conference affiliation. They usually invited teams from conferences like the WAC, independents, and other conference runners-up and played during that doldrum between Christmas and New Year's Day. They were the Arizona equivalent of the Sun Bowl.

They didn't become a major bowl until the late 1980s when they got lucky and managed to get two highly ranked independent teams in Penn State and Miami.

Which is why ESPN owns many of these smaller bowls.

Other than a couple of the very worst matchup, More people are watching these Bowl games then would be watching anything else they could put in that timeslot.

SMU vs FAU got more viewers than your average NBA game does.

NyAggie said:

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Quote:

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There is no getting around that the existence of the play-off devalues the bowls.

In the past, winning this trophy meant you either won the SEC, or you beat the SEC champion in their biggest game of the year. Now it doesn't mean much of anything.

Expect more and more of this trend in coming years.

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Exactly

Prec bcs/playoff, you played to get into one of these big bowls and then you played hard to represent and achieve the highest ranking that you could

It was an honor to play in a major bowl

Now if you aren't in the playoffs these games are a letdown

Plus, years ago a team like Baylor never would have been picked to play in one of these big games unless they got the auto bid by winning their conference

Years ago they tried to get the best teams that would travel well

a 2 loss notre dame certainly would have gotten a major bowl invite in those days

You would have had a slate of games looking more like this;

Rose: Ohio st vs Oregon
Sugar: LSU vs Clemson
Cotton: Oklahoma vs Georgia
Fiesta: Alabama vs notre dame
Orange: Florida vs penn st

And all the teams would have played hard

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This!!!! ACC champion would likely go to Orange but your point is taken. Add the Peach Bowl and you basically 12 teams fighting hard and trying to impress the committee because you then do a "plus 1," choosing 2 of the winners of these games to play for the national championship 2 weeks later.

It's funny that literally every single person posting here has made two assumptions:

1) attendance is actually down
2) the reason it's down is because of the playoff

Bobby Petrino`s Neckbrace said:

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Forgive him. He's lactose & tolerant.

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No I'm not. I'm just a pre Madonna