FOS: College Football’s Future Is Here. Bowl Games May Have To Keep Up.

[BleedGopher]

per Amanda:

Bowl games have been a cultural mainstay in college sports since 1902.

But in recent decades, college football stakeholders have tried multiple times to create a championship out of the century-old bowl game structure due to increasing public pressure.

The BCS era began in 1999 and ended in 2014 with the formation of the College Football Playoff. But it didn’t simplify much: Four teams get in, the national semifinals are bowl games played as part of the New Year’s Six, and it culminates in a national championship game — which is not a bowl.

Now, the tension between an antiquated structure and a growing appetite for a more traditional playoff, and larger field, has reached its crescendo.

Starting in 2024, the CFP will expand to 12 teams. For the first two years, bowl games will host quarters and semis. But after that, the future of New Year’s Six bowl games — and the rest of the slate — is anyone’s guess.

What will it take for them to remain relevant?

Too Big to Fail?​

As for the other 30-plus bowl games, the future is arguably more precarious.

The 12-team playoff and the transfer portal threaten the importance of dozens of lower-profile matchups.

But for now, Bowl Season has two things on its side: the longstanding tradition of bowls at the local level, and the sheer size of the FBS football category.

During a press conference, Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli noted how “uneven” the playing field is across FBS football — from Group of 5 schools that make $30 million or less in athletics annually and are heavily subsidized to powerhouse programs that rake in more than $200 million a year, and regularly land a spot in the playoff.

“Regardless of the playoff being at four teams now or 12 teams in the future…that’s not enough to serve 10 conferences and 130 institutions.” He sees bowls as an opportunity to give athletes at these schools “something to play for.”

He also intends to use the new aspects of the college football landscape to carve out a permanent spot for non-New Year’s Six bowls.

Carparelli plans to meet with FBS commissioners this offseason to discuss how name, image, and likeness deals can become part of the bowl experience, too.

• NCAA rules prohibit entities that run college sporting events from offering deals to athletes who are playing in those games — so the Sugar Bowl itself, for example, can’t offer participating players a deal.
• But sponsors of bowls can offer deals. Carparelli floated the idea of bowl sponsors offering deals to participating athletes. (Cheez-It, for example, is testing out this idea this year.)
• The idea has also already been done in college basketball, where NCAA sponsors like Great Clips also inked separate deals with athletes participating.

Perhaps NIL deals could also lure athletes into playing bowl games who otherwise would have eschewed them in order to prevent injury, or to enter the transfer portal.

The transfer portal rules have already threatened the relevance of bowls. The new rules allow athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer without having to sit out a season — and the portal opened up shortly before Bowl Season.

Carparelli did suggest a way for the 12-team playoff to actually make bowl games more relevant: “Bowl games are going to be very valuable inventory to strategically place in and around the CFP games to help promote them,” he said. That way, networks could maintain the attention of fans between conference championship week and the first round of the playoff.

“The College Football Playoff is great for the game of college football,” Carparelli said. “That being said, Bowl Season is equally important, if not more so for a greater number of institutions.”

How Bowl Games Can Fit Into The Future of College Football

A 12-team playoff is an indisputable win for the future of college football. But what happens to a 120-year-old bowl game structure?

frontofficesports.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[jonnyganas]

I was thinking that with the transfer portal mixed with players opting out for NFL draft how bowls have an uphill battle. Now with expanded CFP and NIL, a non-playoff bowl becomes a hard sell for both fans and players. Something will have to change and I am curious what will.

 

[kisarazu]

It will take a proper players union and lots of planning and meetings but just make the players employees. You play you get paid.

 

[Plato]

I still watch them but must admit that the number of very good players on teams that are not in the CFP that are entering the portal or opting out to prepare for the NFL has made the games less attractive.
They do still provide a few weeks extra of practice which gives coaches a better perspective of what next season will be like.
The twelve teams CFP will make the bowls that remain look even less attractive.
Times change.

 

[Panthadad2]

I'm still waiting for the first projected high draft pick to opt out of the CFP. It's just a matter of time.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

the article does raise an interesting possibility.

So if College X is playing in the "insurance.com" Bowl, under NIL, the sponsoring company could give every participating player an "NIL payment" for promotional services.

in essence, players would be paid for appearing in a bowl game. with the proviso that they have to play in the game to receive the payment. that might stop a few guys from opting out.

 

[Bfan]

20 years down the road it will be the Big Ten champ versus the SEC champ in the College Super Bowl.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

WTH is Front Office Sports?

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

per Amanda:

Bowl games have been a cultural mainstay in college sports since 1902.

But in recent decades, college football stakeholders have tried multiple times to create a championship out of the century-old bowl game structure due to increasing public pressure.

The BCS era began in 1999 and ended in 2014 with the formation of the College Football Playoff. But it didn’t simplify much: Four teams get in, the national semifinals are bowl games played as part of the New Year’s Six, and it culminates in a national championship game — which is not a bowl.

Now, the tension between an antiquated structure and a growing appetite for a more traditional playoff, and larger field, has reached its crescendo.

Starting in 2024, the CFP will expand to 12 teams. For the first two years, bowl games will host quarters and semis. But after that, the future of New Year’s Six bowl games — and the rest of the slate — is anyone’s guess.

What will it take for them to remain relevant?

Too Big to Fail?​

As for the other 30-plus bowl games, the future is arguably more precarious.

The 12-team playoff and the transfer portal threaten the importance of dozens of lower-profile matchups.

But for now, Bowl Season has two things on its side: the longstanding tradition of bowls at the local level, and the sheer size of the FBS football category.

During a press conference, Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli noted how “uneven” the playing field is across FBS football — from Group of 5 schools that make $30 million or less in athletics annually and are heavily subsidized to powerhouse programs that rake in more than $200 million a year, and regularly land a spot in the playoff.

“Regardless of the playoff being at four teams now or 12 teams in the future…that’s not enough to serve 10 conferences and 130 institutions.” He sees bowls as an opportunity to give athletes at these schools “something to play for.”

He also intends to use the new aspects of the college football landscape to carve out a permanent spot for non-New Year’s Six bowls.

Carparelli plans to meet with FBS commissioners this offseason to discuss how name, image, and likeness deals can become part of the bowl experience, too.

• NCAA rules prohibit entities that run college sporting events from offering deals to athletes who are playing in those games — so the Sugar Bowl itself, for example, can’t offer participating players a deal.
• But sponsors of bowls can offer deals. Carparelli floated the idea of bowl sponsors offering deals to participating athletes. (Cheez-It, for example, is testing out this idea this year.)
• The idea has also already been done in college basketball, where NCAA sponsors like Great Clips also inked separate deals with athletes participating.

Perhaps NIL deals could also lure athletes into playing bowl games who otherwise would have eschewed them in order to prevent injury, or to enter the transfer portal.

The transfer portal rules have already threatened the relevance of bowls. The new rules allow athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer without having to sit out a season — and the portal opened up shortly before Bowl Season.

Carparelli did suggest a way for the 12-team playoff to actually make bowl games more relevant: “Bowl games are going to be very valuable inventory to strategically place in and around the CFP games to help promote them,” he said. That way, networks could maintain the attention of fans between conference championship week and the first round of the playoff.

“The College Football Playoff is great for the game of college football,” Carparelli said. “That being said, Bowl Season is equally important, if not more so for a greater number of institutions.”

How Bowl Games Can Fit Into The Future of College Football

A 12-team playoff is an indisputable win for the future of college football. But what happens to a 120-year-old bowl game structure?

frontofficesports.com

Go Gophers!!

Good discussion.

 

[Catechol]

Here’s an idea. Maybe some of the lesser bowls could convert to sponsored regular season games, like having more “kickoff classic” type games. Weather would be better for the more temperate locations, and they would sign teams well ahead of time, which could actually lead more fans to travel since it’s not short notice and the holiday season. They may even get some marquee OOC matchups that lower bowls would otherwise never be able to get.

 

[MGGopher]

Here’s an idea. Maybe some of the lesser bowls could convert to sponsored regular season games, like having more “kickoff classic” type games. Weather would be better for the more temperate locations, and they would sign teams well ahead of time, which could actually lead more fans to travel since it’s not short notice and the holiday season. They may even get some marquee OOC matchups that lower bowls would otherwise never be able to get.

That's actually a really good idea. The problem you'd run into is that marquee non-con games will likely decrease every year as conferences expand. The B1G is already talking about going to 10 conference games, so I doubt many teams will be rushing to schedule other P5 teams OOC.

Another option would be to allow teams to play a preseason game or scrimmage against another team in a neutral location. Bowl games are essentially scrimmages anyway (and becoming increasingly more so with opt-outs), and at least a preseason one would be useful. I don't know how many fans would travel for something like that, but I guarantee TV would still be interested.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

It will take a proper players union and lots of planning and meetings but just make the players employees. You play you get paid.

When they can't play anymore, such as running out of eligibility, can they collect unemployment?

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

per Amanda:

Bowl games have been a cultural mainstay in college sports since 1902.

But in recent decades, college football stakeholders have tried multiple times to create a championship out of the century-old bowl game structure due to increasing public pressure.

The BCS era began in 1999 and ended in 2014 with the formation of the College Football Playoff. But it didn’t simplify much: Four teams get in, the national semifinals are bowl games played as part of the New Year’s Six, and it culminates in a national championship game — which is not a bowl.

Now, the tension between an antiquated structure and a growing appetite for a more traditional playoff, and larger field, has reached its crescendo.

Starting in 2024, the CFP will expand to 12 teams. For the first two years, bowl games will host quarters and semis. But after that, the future of New Year’s Six bowl games — and the rest of the slate — is anyone’s guess.

What will it take for them to remain relevant?

Too Big to Fail?​

As for the other 30-plus bowl games, the future is arguably more precarious.

The 12-team playoff and the transfer portal threaten the importance of dozens of lower-profile matchups.

But for now, Bowl Season has two things on its side: the longstanding tradition of bowls at the local level, and the sheer size of the FBS football category.

During a press conference, Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli noted how “uneven” the playing field is across FBS football — from Group of 5 schools that make $30 million or less in athletics annually and are heavily subsidized to powerhouse programs that rake in more than $200 million a year, and regularly land a spot in the playoff.

“Regardless of the playoff being at four teams now or 12 teams in the future…that’s not enough to serve 10 conferences and 130 institutions.” He sees bowls as an opportunity to give athletes at these schools “something to play for.”

He also intends to use the new aspects of the college football landscape to carve out a permanent spot for non-New Year’s Six bowls.

Carparelli plans to meet with FBS commissioners this offseason to discuss how name, image, and likeness deals can become part of the bowl experience, too.

• NCAA rules prohibit entities that run college sporting events from offering deals to athletes who are playing in those games — so the Sugar Bowl itself, for example, can’t offer participating players a deal.
• But sponsors of bowls can offer deals. Carparelli floated the idea of bowl sponsors offering deals to participating athletes. (Cheez-It, for example, is testing out this idea this year.)
• The idea has also already been done in college basketball, where NCAA sponsors like Great Clips also inked separate deals with athletes participating.

Perhaps NIL deals could also lure athletes into playing bowl games who otherwise would have eschewed them in order to prevent injury, or to enter the transfer portal.

The transfer portal rules have already threatened the relevance of bowls. The new rules allow athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer without having to sit out a season — and the portal opened up shortly before Bowl Season.

Carparelli did suggest a way for the 12-team playoff to actually make bowl games more relevant: “Bowl games are going to be very valuable inventory to strategically place in and around the CFP games to help promote them,” he said. That way, networks could maintain the attention of fans between conference championship week and the first round of the playoff.

“The College Football Playoff is great for the game of college football,” Carparelli said. “That being said, Bowl Season is equally important, if not more so for a greater number of institutions.”

How Bowl Games Can Fit Into The Future of College Football

A 12-team playoff is an indisputable win for the future of college football. But what happens to a 120-year-old bowl game structure?

frontofficesports.com

Go Gophers!!

IIRC college football is now the second biggest sport behind the NFL - I’ll believe it when I see it and degenerate gamblers reform

 

[GopherTheJugular]

the article does raise an interesting possibility.

So if College X is playing in the "insurance.com" Bowl, under NIL, the sponsoring company could give every participating player an "NIL payment" for promotional services.

in essence, players would be paid for appearing in a bowl game. with the proviso that they have to play in the game to receive the payment. that might stop a few guys from opting out.

I doubt cheez-it or most of the other bowls have enough to pay 170 players enough money to make it worthwhile for an individual player. I mean, if I'm opting out for the NFL or to transfer to a new school, I'm not gonna give a crap about $10,000 versus injury risk. Maybe if I was transferring I'd play for $50K, but that would be a lot to put on the bowls, 170 * $50K. Plus, does anyone know if the coaches tell a player that they can come but only if they skip the bowl of their current team, to avoid injury?

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Maybe the base 300K per qualifying team bowl payouts and a portion of the per game bonus payouts (up to what 8-9M per game now?) should be redirected (as NIL sponsorships) by the bowls away from the conferences to the players. Cut out the middleman, give incentive for players to make better bowls, play in the bowl. Granted this would require renegotiation of existing contracts but I’m assured the conferences and schools would have no problem sharing the pot of gold.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

I still watch them but must admit that the number of very good players on teams that are not in the CFP that are entering the portal or opting out to prepare for the NFL has made the games less attractive.
They do still provide a few weeks extra of practice which gives coaches a better perspective of what next season will be like.
The twelve teams CFP will make the bowls that remain look even less attractive.
Times change.

Not a single bowl game I wouldn’t watch because of who is sitting out. I couldn’t care less.

 

[leib0039]

I doubt cheez-it or most of the other bowls have enough to pay 170 players enough money to make it worthwhile for an individual player. I mean, if I'm opting out for the NFL or to transfer to a new school, I'm not gonna give a crap about $10,000 versus injury risk. Maybe if I was transferring I'd play for $50K, but that would be a lot to put on the bowls, 170 * $50K. Plus, does anyone know if the coaches tell a player that they can come but only if they skip the bowl of their current team, to avoid injury?

I said this in another thread but why couldnt you do something like "ok each player gets their choice, either $5k or an insurance policy that costs us $5k but in the event you get hurt could pay out up to $5m ( I dont know how those numbers shake out but you get the idea). So a guy like Sean Tucker for Syracuse goes hey cool, I play and if I totally destroy my leg or whatever here is his policy I can cash in on. And for a kid like that hey he doesnt get the $5k in cash but he long term that will be fairly irrelevant.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

I said this in another thread but why couldnt you do something like "ok each player gets their choice, either $5k or an insurance policy that costs us $5k but in the event you get hurt could pay out up to $5m ( I dont know how those numbers shake out but you get the idea). So a guy like Sean Tucker for Syracuse goes hey cool, I play and if I totally destroy my leg or whatever here is his policy I can cash in on. And for a kid like that hey he doesnt get the $5k in cash but he long term that will be fairly irrelevant.

It's a plan, but I just think the numbers are too far apart. I mean, (I know it's been a while) but how much did that Dallas LB from Notre Dame lose out on by going in the 2nd round instead of the 1st? Can insurance make up that kind of difference? Also, even if it could, did Jameson Williams really like having to do all that rehab or would he have preferred having a preseason? I know it's different because he was playing in the NC when he got hurt, but still, if it's not a playoff game, even an insurance policy might not appeal to me.

 

[MaxyJR1]

the article does raise an interesting possibility.

So if College X is playing in the "insurance.com" Bowl, under NIL, the sponsoring company could give every participating player an "NIL payment" for promotional services.

in essence, players would be paid for appearing in a bowl game. with the proviso that they have to play in the game to receive the payment. that might stop a few guys from opting out.

$$ Can't be tied to competition by the rules right now, so it can't be based on them playing in the game.

I think bowls still provide TV revenue and will stick around. NIL will potentially add to the bowls themselves by paying kids for appearances and promotions. Remember only 1% of these kids are going pro.

 

[Goldmember]

per Amanda:

Starting in 2024, the CFP will expand to 12 teams. For the first two years, bowl games will host quarters and semis. But after that, the future of New Year’s Six bowl games — and the rest of the slate — is anyone’s guess.

Having the NY6 as the quarterfinals is a ridiculous disaster.