I do wonder though…say you are a first round pick and your team is 5-4 with three games left. Essentially the final 3 games are meaningless because you can’t make the playoffs. Those guys going to play the last three games ? That situation is coming.
Will Bowls be Dead in 2024?
- Thread starter mark82
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- Mar 27, 2006
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It's already happened to some degree. Look at Ed Oliver. He sat out the final 4 games of his last season with Houston. It was under the guise of an injury, but it wasn't hard to see what was going on, especially when he and his coach got into it over him wearing a team coat on the sideline.
How does playing in a playoff game enhance your draft status a lot more than a bowl game and not carry the risks that a bowl game has. Using the same logic, why wouldn’t a no. 1 pick in the draft opt out of a playoff game for a 12th seeded team?
- Mar 27, 2006
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They definitely could. These are individual decisions. Some might want to play. Others might decide it's not worth the risk. There's no hard and fast rules.
Didn’t the one Bosa sit out the whole season when he could have played the last few games?
- Mar 27, 2006
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I remember something about that, but I don't remember the details. The Oliver incident stuck out in my mind because of the coat, and that it involved Major Applewhite, who was always an *******.
24 team playoff and that’s it. It’s the way it should be. Get in or you’re done for the year. Butttttt too much money to be made for bowl games and the cities they are in.
Advertisers have to be getting screwed this year though. Mostly blowouts and not good games. Imagine having paid HUGE money to advertise in that Georgia-FSU debacle. Was anyone dumb enough to watch that game past the 1st qtr?
I don’t mind some extra games. Bowl games don’t mean much anymore other than more football for me to watch. If they come up with a cash prize for the winning players, say 1 million to the winner and 500k to the loser. Might get some kids to stick around and play
Bowls are dead men walking, and have been since the playoff started. This bowl season has just announced that to the world with clarity. Expand the playoff to match FCS. Whatever survives outside that can host the teams that didn't quite make it.
- Mar 27, 2006
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not sure about today's games, but the ratings have been pretty good so far.
Wednesday (12/27) sports ratings: Bowl season picks up
A quartet of college football bowl games topped the sports viewership charts for Wednesday, December 27.
Live sports is still a ratings draw. Still meat on the bone for advertisers
LOL no. Ratings have been pretty good this year. The game last night had nearly 10 million. College football gets massive viewership, and it does not drop off for bowl games. They are doing just fine.
- Mar 27, 2006
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The Cotton Bowl did very well alsonot sure about today's games, but the ratings have been pretty good so far.
Wednesday (12/27) sports ratings: Bowl season picks up
A quartet of college football bowl games topped the sports viewership charts for Wednesday, December 27.www.sportsmediawatch.com
Live sports is still a ratings draw. Still meat on the bone for advertisers
Missouri's Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State garners ratings win for ESPN
According to ESPN, the 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic, which Missouri won 14-3 over Ohio State, garnered an average of 9.6 million viewers.
awfulannouncing.com
I think the only way to limit the opt outs is financial motivation to play/win but I’m not sure if the bowls are willing to to pony up the amount it would require for players to not opt out.
Personally I would be all in on shortening the regular season by a game and then having an extra or two extra playoffs. Could easily tinker the scheduling to have multiple games every night for a couple weeks. Yeah it would be equivalent to the NIT (and CBI if you had two) but that’s still better than the current era bowl system.
If it were up to me:
12 team playoff for the natty (don’t see that changing)
16 team major conference tourney
16 team mid major tourney.
Probably doesn’t make sense but it’d be fun
Personally I would be all in on shortening the regular season by a game and then having an extra or two extra playoffs. Could easily tinker the scheduling to have multiple games every night for a couple weeks. Yeah it would be equivalent to the NIT (and CBI if you had two) but that’s still better than the current era bowl system.
If it were up to me:
12 team playoff for the natty (don’t see that changing)
16 team major conference tourney
16 team mid major tourney.
Probably doesn’t make sense but it’d be fun
The reason is simple, winning and advancing means something, while the majority of the bowl games mean nothing for the players. Sure, they want to win, but if you have millions coming your way in a few months, it's not worth the risk of playing a game that is not going to affect anything but bragging rights.
The solution to the future of bowl games is to schedule all of them, except the playoff ones, to week 0. There would be incredible interest among fans and zero opt outs among players. These non-playoff bowls would no longer be meaningless.
So push bowls back to the next season? So departing players and coaches who have earned a bowl would not be rewarded for it?
