Gophers used to getting passed over in bowl selection process

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station19

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"Capital One Bowl spokesman Matt Repchak said Minnesota “caught us by surprise” by being 8-2 with games remaining against Wisconsin and Michigan State. Had the Gophers won either game, said Repchak, a 9-3 Gophers team would have received “extra consideration” for the Jan. 1 bowl.

“Minnesota hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to be in consideration late in the year,” he said.

Jamey Rootes, the president of Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, which manages the Texas Bowl, said he was not surprised the Gophers still were available when his bowl made its selection. The Texas Bowl is owned by ESPN, and Rootes said the sports cable network was “directly involved” in selecting the Gophers and Syracuse."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/237109151.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue
 

How does one become a bowl representative? It seems to be a big sham. For the past 15 years or so, whenever the Gophers have become bowl eligible, there are always whispers that bowl representatives will be in attendance.

Are the bowl reps wined and dined? Has it ever made a difference for our Gophers? For any team?
Maybe the next time the X Bowl Representative calls and says they will be sending representatives to scout our team we should direct them to gophersports.com and tell them to buy a ticket.

Merry Chriistmas!
 

So if the Texas Bowl is owned by ESPN does that mean they are more interested in TV ratings or filling hotel rooms?
 

How was the Texas Bowl "directly involved" in picking the Gophers? They had no choice, the Big Ten was out of bowl eligible teams by the time their turn to pick came up.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
How was the Texas Bowl "directly involved" in picking the Gophers? They had no choice, the Big Ten was out of bowl eligible teams by the time their turn to pick came up.
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It says ESPN was directly involved with picking the Gophers.
 


The only team we were passed over by was Michigan. Nebraska, even though we beat them, had a better B10 record. Why has the media totally missed this point? Michigan also jumped over Nebraska, but I barely see anyone in the media acknowledging this either.

I'm so tired of the media talking about our fan base and how it doesn't travel. It's a bunch of BS. Give me a New Years Day bowl game and we will travel, just like Iowa, Wisconsin and Iowa did. How did they get the reputation for traveling well? It wasn't from packing Nashville and El Paso with fans, it was filling the Outback, Orange, and Rose Bowls. So until the Gophers get to one of those bowls you won't see our true fan base travel. And you do that by going 5-2 in the B10, not 4-4.
 

They're going too have to use cardboard figurines to fill the empty seats at the Gator Bowl.
 

GoGophers2005 said:
The only team we were passed over by was Michigan. Nebraska, even though we beat them, had a better B10 record. Why has the media totally missed this point? Michigan also jumped over Nebraska, but I barely see anyone in the media acknowledging this either.

I'm so tired of the media talking about our fan base and how it doesn't travel. It's a bunch of BS. Give me a New Years Day bowl game and we will travel, just like Iowa, Wisconsin and Iowa did. How did they get the reputation for traveling well? It wasn't from packing Nashville and El Paso with fans, it was filling the Outback, Orange, and Rose Bowls. So until the Gophers get to one of those bowls you won't see our true fan base travel. And you do that by going 5-2 in the B10, not 4-4.
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Agree, if we are in a good bowl game we will travel. I am starting to get the impression that we will have to be eligible for a BCS bowl before we are not passed over.
 




GoGophers2005 said:
The only team we were passed over by was Michigan. Nebraska, even though we beat them, had a better B10 record. Why has the media totally missed this point? Michigan also jumped over Nebraska, but I barely see anyone in the media acknowledging this either.

I'm so tired of the media talking about our fan base and how it doesn't travel. It's a bunch of BS. Give me a New Years Day bowl game and we will travel, just like Iowa, Wisconsin and Iowa did. How did they get the reputation for traveling well? It wasn't from packing Nashville and El Paso with fans, it was filling the Outback, Orange, and Rose Bowls. So until the Gophers get to one of those bowls you won't see our true fan base travel. And you do that by going 5-2 in the B10, not 4-4.
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this guy gets it.
 

Nothing new here, but a decent explanation of how the process works for those casual fans who may not follow these things.

However, it won't slow the criticisms when Reliant Stadium is - at best - half-full for the game on Friday.
 

If General Mills had something called the Cereal Bowl at TCF and it ended up being any BT team vs a Non BT team in lt dec or jan i would go and i am confident the place would be full for a few years.
 




station19 said:
So if the Texas Bowl is owned by ESPN does that mean they are more interested in TV ratings or filling hotel rooms?
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Bingo. Gopher fans continue to ring the "who says we don't travel well" bell when the real factor on who is selected has way more to do with TV ratings then ticket/hotel sales. Ruesse has been saying it all along, but no one else seems to get it.

Go Gophers!
 


Spoofin said:
Bingo. Gopher fans continue to ring the "who says we don't travel well" bell when the real factor on who is selected has way more to do with TV ratings then ticket/hotel sales. Ruesse has been saying it all along, but no one else seems to get it.

Go Gophers!
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Not all the bowls are owned by networks though.
 

station19 said:
Not all the bowls are owned by networks though.
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True - but almost all are more concerned with ratings than #fans. They make more on ads/customer touches than on tickets. Just look at the attendance at many of the games and figure out why a company would sponsor such a thing.

I'm not saying you disagree - just pointing out a fact that many (not all) scorned Gopher fans fail to realize. Regardless of the Nebraska fans that do/don't travel to Jacksonville - NE almost certainly provides higher TV ratings than MN which us why the Gator chose them. MI brings higher ratings than both NE & MN which is why BWW chose them. It wasn't because of "who will travel better."
 

bemidjigopher said:
Well that's ten minutes of my life I won't get back
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There are a lot of directions this conversion could go....I think many probably agree that winning takes care of a lot of things. The bowl game ratings clock starts clicking down the more you get away from games like the rose bowl for example. You loose the buzz of a bowl game the further you get away from any new years day game unless you have some spectacular matchup.

Attendance is not the only factor in success of bowl games as it relates what they call success because you can have a very successful bowl not have a sellout because every bowl has a different charge from their local committee.

Bowl officials also monitor Internet message boards. A lot of fans calling for a coach’s head? Then the fan base probably isn’t excited enough about a bowl game to pack the house. One year Louisville looked like a good choice until the bowl committee noted the Cardinals’ basketball schedule. Officials saw a basketball game against rival Kentucky scheduled for the same time as the bowl game. Needless to say, the bowl passed Louisville.

Id like to know the number of fans by bowl who aren't really there for either team. The larger the bowl the higher that stat is probably so the better the bowls are simply pulling more "football fans" perhaps....maybe a stretch.

When you look at MN and Iowa for example I don't think you can say one travels better than the other. For example MN vs. Texas Tech; Attendance was around 50k. That is about the same as Iowa in the Insight Bowls in 2010 and 2011 against Missouri and Oklahoma....only 53k and 54k in attendance.

So I really think its perhaps as simple as be consistent year in and year out perhaps win a couple more games here and there....presto. bigger bowls

Cheers Gophers!
 

Spoofin said:
True - but almost all are more concerned with ratings than #fans. They make more on ads/customer touches than on tickets. Just look at the attendance at many of the games and figure out why a company would sponsor such a thing.

I'm not saying you disagree - just pointing out a fact that many (not all) scorned Gopher fans fail to realize. Regardless of the Nebraska fans that do/don't travel to Jacksonville - NE almost certainly provides higher TV ratings than MN which us why the Gator chose them. MI brings higher ratings than both NE & MN which is why BWW chose them. It wasn't because of "who will travel better."
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Michigan and Nebraska both certainly provide higher TV ratings?? I'm not saying its not true, I'm just interested if there is some hard evidence proving that or not, or if it is just a generalization that everyone assumes must be true? I thought I read somewhere that last years Texas Bowl was the 5th most watched bowl game last year?
 

PartoPitinosPosse said:
Michigan and Nebraska both certainly provide higher TV ratings?? I'm not saying its not true, I'm just interested if there is some hard evidence proving that or not, or if it is just a generalization that everyone assumes must be true? I thought I read somewhere that last years Texas Bowl was the 5th most watched bowl game last year?
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No stats, but pretty sure NE and MI pull higher national TV ratings than MN... for the same game. Harder to compare across bowl games tho as the day and other options play a major role. The Texas Bowl is ideal in that way as it is the only game on on a Friday Night and it is on ESPN. That is why I preferred the Gophers playing there over the Gator - more exposure for us as I suspect the Texas Bowl will have higher ratings than the Gator bowl this year.

However, that is a different debate as my only point here is that the Gator with NE will have better national TV ratings than the Gator with MN would have. Absolutely no way to prove it, but I believe that was why the Gator chose NE.
 

Minnesota with the Kill situation and the inspirational season had way more coverage than Nebraska nationally.
I would bet the house we would've drawn a bigger viewing crowd than Nebraska.
 

Spoofin said:
No stats, but pretty sure NE and MI pull higher national TV ratings than MN... for the same game. Harder to compare across bowl games tho as the day and other options play a major role. The Texas Bowl is ideal in that way as it is the only game on on a Friday Night and it is on ESPN. That is why I preferred the Gophers playing there over the Gator - more exposure for us as I suspect the Texas Bowl will have higher ratings than the Gator bowl this year.

However, that is a different debate as my only point here is that the Gator with NE will have better national TV ratings than the Gator with MN would have. Absolutely no way to prove it, but I believe that was why the Gator chose NE.
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Honestly, the only way Nebraska, RIGHT NOW, has more overall fans throughout the country than Minnesota does, is because there are people with no association with the state of Nebraska or the school that have, IN THE PAST, become Nebraska fans. Granted its possible that there are more HARDCORE Nebraska fans than HARDCORE Minnesota fans, but that is only because Nebraska has more recently seen incredible success. But, Nebraska has hardly been tearing up the gridiron lately, so its very plausible that those Hardcore Husker fans are not all that excited about this season's bowl game. The Gophers on the other hand, have had one of their best seasons in the last 50 years. With what has surrounded the Gopher program this season, there is a buzz surrounding the program, Nebraska is reeling, Minnesota is rising. Minnesota and Nebraska both have their hardcore followers that will watch any bowl game they are in. But will the casual Nebraska fan go out of their way to watch this bowl game they are in, or are they already in the process of becoming a fan of some other team, some team more in vogue right now?! Now, the Gophers, with the excitement that is surrounding the team as it is, if they had gotten an invite to the Gator bowl, are you going to tell me all the casual Gopher fans out there wouldn't have come out of the woodwork to watch that bowl game???
 


PartoPitinosPosse said:
Michigan and Nebraska both certainly provide higher TV ratings?? I'm not saying its not true, I'm just interested if there is some hard evidence proving that or not, or if it is just a generalization that everyone assumes must be true? I thought I read somewhere that last years Texas Bowl was the 5th most watched bowl game last year?
Click to expand...

Actually, it ranked 12th in ratings. Interesting to note that the game Syracuse played in ranked 11th last year. I'm sure ESPN is happy to have these two teams match up from a ratings perspective.
 

PartoPitinosPosse said:
Michigan and Nebraska both certainly provide higher TV ratings?? I'm not saying its not true, I'm just interested if there is some hard evidence proving that or not, or if it is just a generalization that everyone assumes must be true? I thought I read somewhere that last years Texas Bowl was the 5th most watched bowl game last year?
Click to expand...

2013 regular season
1. Alabama (6,456,000 average viewers)
2. Texas A&M (5,263,900)
3. Michigan (5,257,381)
13. Nebraska (3,240,833)
42. Minnesota (1,616,524)

Minnesota vs. Michigan - 4.42m
Minnesota vs. Nebraska - 3.13m
Minnesota vs. Iowa - 2.92m
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin - 1.81m
Minnesota vs. Penn Stae - 1.41m
Minnesota vs. Northwestern - 821k
 

PartoPitinosPosse said:
Honestly, the only way Nebraska, RIGHT NOW, has more overall fans throughout the country than Minnesota does, is because there are people with no association with the state of Nebraska or the school that have, IN THE PAST, become Nebraska fans. Granted its possible that there are more HARDCORE Nebraska fans than HARDCORE Minnesota fans, but that is only because Nebraska has more recently seen incredible success. But, Nebraska has hardly been tearing up the gridiron lately, so its very plausible that those Hardcore Husker fans are not all that excited about this season's bowl game. The Gophers on the other hand, have had one of their best seasons in the last 50 years. With what has surrounded the Gopher program this season, there is a buzz surrounding the program, Nebraska is reeling, Minnesota is rising. Minnesota and Nebraska both have their hardcore followers that will watch any bowl game they are in. But will the casual Nebraska fan go out of their way to watch this bowl game they are in, or are they already in the process of becoming a fan of some other team, some team more in vogue right now?! Now, the Gophers, with the excitement that is surrounding the team as it is, if they had gotten an invite to the Gator bowl, are you going to tell me all the casual Gopher fans out there wouldn't have come out of the woodwork to watch that bowl game???
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It's not about the casual NE/MN fans and certainly not about the hard core ones. Its about the passive fans that are more likely to watch NE or Michigan than MN. Just fact. See Maximus' post for the stats that some need to prove the obvious.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Minnesota with the Kill situation and the inspirational season had way more coverage than Nebraska nationally.
I would bet the house we would've drawn a bigger viewing crowd than Nebraska.
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You seem like a nice guy Ruppert. For that reason I'm glad you aren't allowed to bet on such a thing.
 

Fill the hotels and get closer to selling the ticket allotment and you'll be surprised at what happens. ESPN owns this game and wants decent content to fill the air, but due to the B1G bowl alliances its not like they had a choice on the Gophers. Syracuse yes as they supposedly bring in a bigger market and no Big 12 teams were eligible.
 

Syracuse to some extent grabs the New York TV market since there are a lot of alums and arm chair fans, although they're hardly getting mass support.

It takes a lot to move casual Gopher fans, and casual Minnesota sports fans generally, but when the big team or event comes, people go crazy. So although we won't sell a ton of Texas Bowl tickets, I think a Capital One Bowl bid or even an Outback Bowl bid would draw significantly more fans given the relative prestige of the games, the locations, and the type of team we'd have in order to reach those games. If we somehow ever made it to Pasadena, I think there'd be unprecedented demand for tickets, far more than the Gophers would be allotted or possibly could even fit inside the Rose Bowl.

At the 1997 Final Four, Kentucky had the most fans in Indianapolis not only due to their rabid supporters, but also due to proximity and so many Kentuckians living in Indiana. However, the Gophers, despite not being college hoops royalty, had the second most fans easiliy, well ahead of North Carolina and Arizona, with many unable to get tickets or just wanting to be in Indy for the good time. I can see this happening again on the football side.
 

Spoofin said:
However, that is a different debate as my only point here is that the Gator with NE will have better national TV ratings than the Gator with MN would have. Absolutely no way to prove it, but I believe that was why the Gator chose NE.
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I would most likely agree......however......I think that the most competitive matchup will provide the best ratings. Since the Gator Bowl starts an hour earlier than the other two, the actual game performance may dictate the ratings. Who would give Georgia the best game? You could say that because we beat Nebraska, that we would. I would say that is impossible to know.
 

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