Power 4 programs have now opted out of bowl games

in 1998 at the inception of the BCS there were 22 bowl games.

This year there are 36 NON-PLAYOFF bowl games. Its really dumb and compared to the post season of every other level of football it is an absolute joke.

Think there were five growing up

Rose Cotton Sugar Orange and possibly one other Florida bowl

There were 5-7 teams that season ended two weeks ago and most of their players have gone on their way. Some of those teams have new coaching staffs, etc.

Maybe ESPN needs less bowls.

quote:

---

in 1998 at the inception of the BCS there were 22 bowl games.

---

There were 15 bowl games in the 1980 season before the significant growth of Cable TV and ESPN.

Effectively, 30 teams were playing, most of whom had 0 chance at a national championship.

In 98, that was 44 teams, 42 of which had 0 chance.

Now there are 72 with 0 chance.

It does not bother me a bit. If I find a bowl interesting, I watch. If I do not, I don't. If the team I root for is playing, I watch. There is a lot that goes on outside of the game that the players get some enjoyment from. It provides the chance for coaches to conduct extra practices witht eh team to use players with the ones that they have not used during the season and to evaluate further some of the returning talent.

The Bowls themselves are not as meaningful as they once were; that is true, but they do have meaning to coaches and players. Ultimately, they will come to profitability for the bowls themselves and expense for the teams (Many bowls are a net negative for teams in terms of cost).

It's not worth lamenting about.

It doesn’t matter what they mean. The only thing that matters is if people watch them on TB and they make money. For years most of the stadiums have been empty for any games before New Year’s Eve. No one has cared for a long time. But when you’re home on vacation, will you still watch them. I’m guessing yes for the foreseeable future.

quote:

---

Is this the beginning of the end of bowls altogether?

---

God I hope so. I mean, it's something to do during the holidays and watching football beats talking to my in-laws around Christmas but the truth is, if LSU is not playing in the playoff, it's time to move on to hockey,

Personally I like the idea someone else posted, replace the kickoff games with bowl games to start the season. I don’t have all of the answers to how you go about setting the matchups, but the games would be meaningful and force teams to play tough out of conference games. Have cross conference tie ins to the sites, or some kind of selection based on prestige of the bowl. Then when the season ends it is all about the playoffs and we can stop the meaningless games that the schools and players no longer want to participate in.