Since 1997 the number of bowl games has nearly doubled from 20 to 39, whilst the number of FBS teams has increased by less than the number of bowl games. As the years gone by the honour of going bowling has become less prestigious as more and more teams go every year. This year saw 76 teams go to a bowl game out of the 125 eligible teams (Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Idaho were ineligible for different reasons). But is this a bad thing?
The topic reared its head during the early part of bowl season as some fans thought the honour of going bowling was much reduced with over 60% of eligible teams attending a bowl game. These early games featured mostly teams with six to eight wins from outside the power 5 conferences. It wasn’t helped by the opening two bowl games being poor low-scoring affairs before Utah racked up a blowout win over Colorado State. The conference boards all agree they have too many bowl games currently but none of them can think of any feasible way to fix this problem fairly.
Mediocre teams can make themselves bowl eligible by scheduling a weak non-conference schedule which means they only need as little as two wins in conference to ensure they go to a bowl game. There clearly aren’t enough good teams in any given season to produce 39 good bowl matchups each season. We’ve had some intriguing games so far like the Miami Beach Bowl, Bahamas Bowl and Holiday bowl but plenty of duds as well.
The final issue is the rules of bowl games that means the university takes all the financial risk if ticket allocations aren’t sold out. Teams have to buy all the tickets regardless of whether fans have purchased those seats, again not a problem for the rich powerhouse conferences but certainly a problem for smaller schools. The best example this year would be the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl which saw Western Kentucky and Central Michigan play out a thriller in an empty stadium thousands of miles from home.
But on the flipside it will have been a great experience for the players to visit and play in such a great destination like the Bahamas. The players are often forgotten in this but it gives them a great reward for a long hard season and again for the smaller school players a chance to shine on national television. They are usually the sole game playing so fans get a chance to watch teams they wouldn’t normally consider on a fully scheduled Saturday slate of games and that exposure is clearly good for the group of 5 conference teams.
Naturally the increase in bowl games has dramatically increased the revenue for the teams and bowls themselves. The TV networks are paying more and more for the coverage which is why the number of bowls has more than doubled in such a short space of time, everybody wants a part of the higher revenues.
This is coupled with fans interest also being at an all-time high with viewing figures rising, with that expected to continue this year with the introduction of the four team playoff to decide the national champion. Attendances at the games themselves have stayed relatively flat during this period of growth, showing fans are still happy to travel to watch their team play in bowl games despite it being a more regular occurrence than it would have been twenty years ago.
Bowl season has become slightly overgrown with the process being almost unregulated by the NCAA and a danger that this trend could continue if more bowls are created. There were four teams who were bowl eligible but not selected including UAB who are now defunct whilst Georgia Southern were ineligible after recently joining the FBS. But with fan interest and revenue at an all-time high it’s clear that there is an appetite for all the extra bowl games that have been added in recent years.
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