STrib: Studying the Big Ten's approach to college football's new bowl picture

[e.bigelow]

I found this to be pretty interesting. I love the idea of changing the lower tier bowl lineup and getting some new destinations. One of my best friends from high school lives out in San Francisco and a trip out there is always very enjoyable. How that may affect recruiting though is a different story as I know we heavily recruit Texas and Florida. Sorry if this has been posted in another thread by the way.

Studying the Big Ten's approach to college football's new bowl picture

If the Gophers can remain bowl eligible in coming seasons, potential new destinations could include New York for the Pinstripe Bowl, San Diego for the Holiday Bowl and San Francisco for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

This piece from Stewart Mandel on SI.com taught me a lot about how the bowl system could change after next season, when the BCS contract expires, along with all the other contracts for bowls.

TV ratings have been solid, even for lower-tier bowls, but attendance is sagging. The most glaring example was the Sugar Bowl between then-No. 3 Florida and Louisville, which drew 54,178, the event’s lowest attendance since 1939.

Some bowls become more intriguing than expected and become a hot ticket (see the Cotton Bowl matchup between Oklahoma and Texas A&M). Other bowls linger as consolation prizes for disappointed fan bases, leaving schools way overmatched trying to fill ticket allotments.

As Mandel writes, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany “wants the conference bowl lineup to become ‘more national’ than its current glut of Florida games; he wants to keep fans from becoming fatigued by repeat trips to the same destination." So Delany believes it's time to get more creative.

The Big Ten is expected to sign on with the Pinstripe Bowl, as it looks to strengthen its eastern footprint after adding Rutgers and Maryland. And a source tells Mandel that over a six-year term, the Big Ten and Big 12 could share spots in the Holiday Bowl and Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, with each conference taking three trips over the six years.

I’m not sure where those bowls would rank in the Big Ten’s new pecking order, but it sounds like we could have an idea by this April.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/186484771.html

 

[Jike Spingleton]

I'd speculated in another thread last week that the Holiday Bowl was a game to be targeted, since it has a history with the Big Ten.

The "timeshare" approach is a good one to help avoid having the same teams appear in the same bowls repeatedly. The Big 12 and Big East implemented this from 2007-10 in agreements with the Gator Bowl and Sun Bowl, though it probably didn't go quite as planned (Texas Tech played in Jacksonville one year, while South Florida played in El Paso. Reversing that would've been wise).

San Francisco would be further down the pecking order, unless they push to increase the prestige when the game moves to the new 49ers stadium in Santa Clara in 2014.

 

[RodentRampage]

With the Metrodome going away, we can't have the Metrobowl. However, we could still have the Valhalla Bowl in the Vikings new stadium. Or the Hormel Foods Potted Meat Bowl.

 

[Iceland12]

Here's the part that EVERY College Football Fansite posts over and over during the Bowl Season. It's all true too. Fans are upset that going through their school cost much more than going aftermarket. The cynics and haters love to use these facts to whine about the Bowls and rip their favorite school targets.

Even if the conferences succeed in creating more interesting matchups, there's still the vexing issue of guaranteeing ticket sales. Under the traditional model, bowls require participating schools to purchase a set amount of tickets (17,500 for the BCS bowls, not including the Rose, and anywhere from 8,000 to 16,000 for most others), regardless of demand. Schools and their conferences eat the cost of any unsold tickets, which in some cases can reach seven figures. USA Today reported last month that schools absorbed nearly $21 million in unsold tickets during the 2011-12 bowl season.


For the most part, however, it's become unrealistic for schools to sell expensive full-price tickets when there are drastically cheaper seats available via secondary outlets like StubHub. That site had tickets to the Northwestern-Mississippi State Gator Bowl available for as low as $2.50 leading up to the game.
"The marketplace has changed," said Waters. "We've got one more year under the old model. Now's the time to sit down and figure out what the new model is.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/co...e-football-bowl-system-changes/#ixzz2HhnXvCd4

Here's the part NOBODY talks about on those same boards:

The obvious solution would be to reduce ticket guarantees, but bowl officials counter that they need the ticket revenue in part to satisfy conferences' desired bowl payouts. As the FBA's media guide points out, no conference lost money during the 2011-12 bowl season. The leagues combined to make nearly $180 million after expenses. The conferences choose to split that money among all members.
"It can't be completely one-sided, where the conferences want to keep asking for more money and less ticket guarantees," said one bowl director. "There has to be some sort of goal in the middle where we reduce the ticket guarantee but also reduce the payout."

Spend 21 million to get it all back PLUS $180 million? Seems like a very good deal doesn't it?

Shouldn't they at least figure out a way for Season Ticket holders who have bore the freight for the season, to get tickets closer to aftermarket rate?

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

New York!! That means I could finally see Phanthom of the Opera and Les Miserables!!

 

[mplsbadger]

If you're going to eat it anyway, include a free bowl seat in the price of a premium season ticket. If you don't want to go, you can donate it to a student.

 

[highwayman]

With the Metrodome going away, we can't have the Metrobowl. However, we could still have the Valhalla Bowl in the Vikings new stadium. Or the Hormel Foods Potted Meat Bowl.

I know Minnesotans always wish for this, but no one is coming to a bowl game in Minneapolis in December. I don't even want to be here.

 

[e.bigelow]

If you're going to eat it anyway, include a free bowl seat in the price of a premium season ticket. If you don't want to go, you can donate it to a student.

I like this idea. Even though I do not have premium tickets.

 

[Rog]

If you're going to eat it anyway, include a free bowl seat in the price of a premium season ticket. If you don't want to go, you can donate it to a student.

The problem with this is that its more than likely that its the premium ticket holders that are buying the tickets now. Why not just give free tickets to students and have them pick them up at the game. That way they won't end up in scalpers hands.

 

[Buck_Buchanan]

With the Metrodome going away, we can't have the Metrobowl. However, we could still have the Valhalla Bowl in the Vikings new stadium. Or the Hormel Foods Potted Meat Bowl.

I am guessing, if Minnesota ever hosted a bowl it would be the 3M Post-It Note Bowl or America's Bowl sponsored by Mall of America.

While highly unlikely, there is always a possibility (see NY, Idaho, and Detroit). But I couldn't see teams spending more than 3 days here.