🏈 College football reaches 40 bowls in 2015, more than doubling postseason in 20 years

[BAMANEWSBOT]

There will be 39 bowls in 2014 (counting College Football Playoff championship game), so 76 teams will be needed. Expected to reach 40 bowls and 78 teams in 2015 thanks to third bowl in Orlando.

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College football reaches 40 bowls in 2015.

The Orlando Sentinel and ESPN.com reported the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt will participate in a new bowl game in Orlando beginning in 2015. The Cure Bowl will be the third bowl in Orlando, joining the Capital One and Russell Athletic.

The NCAA had 40 bowls apply for certification for 2014, with Orlando delaying its debut by one year since it has no TV network yet, ESPN.com reported. There will be 39 bowls in 2014, including the College Football Playoff championship game, meaning 76 teams will be needed. By 2015, there will be 40 bowls with 78 teams needed.

There were 79 eligible teams last year for 70 slots. The teams that stayed home: Western Kentucky (8-4), Toledo (7-5), San Jose State (6-6), Central Michigan (6-6), Florida Atlantic (6-6), Louisiana-Monroe (6-6), South Alabama (6-6), Troy (6-6) and Texas State (6-6).

As of now, there will be 128 Football Bowl Subdivision teams for 78 bowl slots in 2015, meaning 61 percent of the FBS will be in the postseason. In recent years, there was 120 FBS teams for 70 bowl slots (58 percent of FBS in the postseason).

"I certainly don't have any more concerns (about filling every bowl) than when we had 35 bowls and 120 teams," said Wright Waters, executive director of the Football Bowl Association. "We're concerned. But I think what you're seeing is the advantages of postseason play are so significant to institutions that conferences are willing to go out there and find additional bowl games."

By 2015, college football's postseason will have more than doubled in 20 years. There were 18 bowls in 1995 and there will be 40 in 2015. Significantly increasing the postseason has occurred throughout college football history.

The number of bowl games increased from six to 11 between 1955 and 1975. Then they went from 11 to 18 from 1975 to 1995. During the 16-year Bowl Championship Series era, the amount of bowls increased from 20 to 35.

Two years ago, the NCAA created a bowl-contingency plan process for choosing teams when a bowl can't be filled by its conference affiliation or there aren't enough eligible teams. The NCAA won't let a bowl go dark. There are six steps to select teams, with the final one being 5-7 teams based on the highest Academic Progress Rate scores.

The process -- created when Ohio State, North Carolina, Miami, Penn State and Central Florida faced potential bowl bans in 2012 -- expires after the 2015 season.

"Where we go in the future, probably a lot of people will be watching the 2014 and 2015 seasons," Waters said. "There will be plenty of time after that to make adjustments."

Five new bowls debut this season: Camellia Bowl in Montgomery (MAC vs. Sun Belt); Bahamas Bowl (rotation of AAC, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt); Miami Beach Bowl (AAC vs. C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt); Detroit Bowl (ACC vs. Big Ten); and Boca Raton Bowl (rotation of AAC, C-USA and MAC). The Little Caesars Bowl was not renewed.

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[TerryP]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bowl <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23s&amp;src=hash">#s</a> are getting so high, you soon could have games with one eligible team. <a href="http://t.co/kV71bzGary">http://t.co/kV71bzGary</a></p>&mdash; Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JFowlerCBS/statuses/456082759682113536">April 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[PhillyGirl]

I don't think I've ever even watched a Bowl outside of the biggies (Orange, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach, Cotton, and the championship). Maybe if nothing else was on and I needed something to fall asleep to.

Who/what is generating so much revenue that these bowl games continue to expand so much? I always hear how attendance is down and ticket sales are low ..

 

[sean]

I don't think I've ever even watched a Bowl outside of the biggies (Orange, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach, Cotton, and the championship). Maybe if nothing else was on and I needed something to fall asleep to.

Who/what is generating so much revenue that these bowl games continue to expand so much? I always hear how attendance is down and ticket sales are low ..

i'm right there with ya. i hardly ever watch any of the other bowls (unless we come up short and play in one of them).

and i've said it many times before and i'll say it yet again. they need to get rid of all the bowls except the big 4 (rose, sugar, fiesta and orange) AND 4-6 of the others (pick from the ones that have been around for at least 15 years). the others are just fodder for teams that could only get bowl eligible by being average in their record for that season.

they're starting to treat this like a little kids game.....where everyone gets a trophy regardless if they win or lose.

how 'bout we only allow only those with a WINNING record play in bowl games. no more of this 6-6 crap just to be bowl eligible. and yes i know that we had that record back in '07, but that still doesn't change my mind. if we, or any other team, can't get above a 6-6 record then we, or they, don't deserve to be in a bowl game. that's the same as rewarding mediocrity.

but i guess all it takes is money. if you have enough these days you can by your own bowl game, it seems.

 

[psychojoe]

TV money is driving this, of course. The day that a team is invited to a bowl as recognition for a good season has long since passed. The standards get lower every year. Not too long ago, you could go with a 6-6 record only if you had six wins versus FBS teams. Before that you had to have a winning record. Back when there were only half as many games I tried to catch all of them. Now, I don't watch any games until New Year's Eve. (Except for 2012, when Terry made me watch the worst football game ever played, that epic battle between Virginia Tech and Rutgers.)

 

[CrimsonPirate]

I remember when the only bowls we cared about were the Sugar, the Cotton, The Orange, and The Rose. Then came the Fiesta because Arizona State (if I remember correctly) kept getting left out of the biggies. 'Course, the Rose Bowl didn't count all that much because it was a Pac10 vs. Big 10 game. Then, they started the conference tie-ins.

 

[252BAMA]

I don't think I've ever even watched a Bowl outside of the biggies (Orange, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach, Cotton, and the championship). Maybe if nothing else was on and I needed something to fall asleep to.

Who/what is generating so much revenue that these bowl games continue to expand so much? I always hear how attendance is down and ticket sales are low ..

The majority of the Bowls are little more than ESPN studios. They don't need any attendance.

 

[TerryP]

TV money is driving this, of course. The day that a team is invited to a bowl as recognition for a good season has long since passed. The standards get lower every year. Not too long ago, you could go with a 6-6 record only if you had six wins versus FBS teams. Before that you had to have a winning record. Back when there were only half as many games I tried to catch all of them. Now, I don't watch any games until New Year's Eve. (Except for 2012, when Terry made me watch the worst football game ever played, that epic battle between Virginia Tech and Rutgers.)

Wait a second here, Howard...I do believe I encouraged you to BET on that game, not watch it. (Of course, one leads to the other.)

And, if I recall correctly, it was one of the few instances where I played the over/under because I thought the total was completely out of line as well. Yep...99% sure on this...seems like the total was 40-45 points and I kept saying neither team had the offense to put much on the board.

:wink: Now that I'm thinking about that...it was a game that wasn't played on a Saturday. And, you know how I avoid betting on Thursday and Friday night games.

 

[TerryP]

The majority of the Bowls are little more than ESPN studios. They don't need any attendance.

That depends on whose perspective your considering. While the TV broadcaster doesn't need attendance, the schools participating in the games do. One of the primary reasons schools lose money on their bowl trips is due to unsold ticket allotments.

I agree with those who say a team that's 6-6 has no reason to be playing in a bowl game. It's not a reward. As evidenced, it's meaningless and ends up being a financial drain on the schools that participate.

You know the schools that are in favor of a 6-6 team going to a bowl game? The schools who are 3-8.

 

[UAgrad93]

Bowls are like the participation trophy of Little League Baseball. "Everybody gets one!"

 

[252BAMA]

That depends on whose perspective your considering. While the TV broadcaster doesn't need attendance, the schools participating in the games do. One of the primary reasons schools lose money on their bowl trips is due to unsold ticket allotments.

I agree with those who say a team that's 6-6 has no reason to be playing in a bowl game. It's not a reward. As evidenced, it's meaningless and ends up being a financial drain on the schools that participate.

You know the schools that are in favor of a 6-6 team going to a bowl game? The schools who are 3-8.

True, but that will not stop the proliferation of Bowls because the schools will continue to participate whether they lose money or not. The Bowls will not lose money whether the tickets are sold or not.

 

[TerryP]

True, but that will not stop the proliferation of Bowls because the schools will continue to participate whether they lose money or not. The Bowls will not lose money whether the tickets are sold or not.

No doubt. Honestly, as much as I despise NCAA oversight (and IRS oversight) there needs to be a lot of reform in the bowl system.

Schools take a bath on unsold tickets. What a lot don't realize is ticket brokers take quite a bath on these lower bowls as well. The majority of the time bowl games are linked. IE: If you buy 250 tickets to one bowl game, you can get 50 for a major bowl.

 

[rick4bama]

You had the Big Four on New Year day. The rest played on the weekend. But you got to remember that the Big 10(BG1), and Pac 8(PAC 12) only let the team that won the Big 10 or the pac 8 championship title to go to any bowl games. I think it was not until 1975 or 76 before all teams from both conference got to go to a bowl game. Also ND didn't play in any bowl until 1970. Most independent school didn't go to any bowl games.

 

[TerryP]

[MENTION=15019]rick4bama[/MENTION] Ironic thing about Notre Dame not playing in a bowl game until the conclusion of the 1969 season is it closely coincided with the polls waiting until after the bowl games to select their national champion.

They try to maintain their "holier than thou" status on bowl wins but when they needed them, they started playing them.

 

[JoshB]

I watch most every bowl... and I'm excited that Montgomery is getting a bowl game despite it likely being two BS teams, but 40 bowl games is just insane.

 

[TerryP]

I watch most every bowl... and I'm excited that Montgomery is getting a bowl game despite it likely being two BS teams, but 40 bowl games is just insane.

I'm with you.

During the bowl season last year a lot were complaining about the games. Yet, even though the teams weren't ones I'd watch during the regular season there were some good ball games. A few of the early games were great games to watch.