re: Tickets for game?

quote:

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Can promise you bowls outside of the playoffs will not be gone in a few years

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He's right. As long as there's an ESPN to put the bowl games on TV, there will be bowl games. The TVs consider the games "programming", and the bowls fill what would otherwise be a dead time of the year.

I'm not sure what the ticket policies for each bowl are these days, but schools used to be required to sell a certain amount of tickets. If they didn't, the schools (and conference) were still on the hook for the ticket allotment.

Empty seats are not necessarily unsold tickets. Since the bowls enjoy non-profit status, their sales departments are able to sell (or trade) big blocks of tickets to businesses, who then mostly give them away.

The host community considers each bowl game visitor a hotel room and meals that otherwise would sit empty during the holiday season.

The bowl committee also enlists hundreds of unpaid volunteers to staff the game, so there's no overhead there.

Bottom line: Coaches like the extra 15 practices. And no school wants to be known as the first one to decline a bowl invitation, even with a 6-6 record. It would be bad for the school's "brand."