Monday's Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium "became the sixth college bowl game among the eight in Florida to have a decline in attendance from the previous year," as the Florida-Iowa matchup drew 51,119 fans, down from 53,202 the previous season, according to Garry Smits of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. Only two games in Florida -- the Russell Athletic Bowl at Camping World Stadium and the St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field -- "showed increases" in attendance. The Russell Athletic Bowl had an increase of 8,207 to watch Miami beat West Virginia, while the St. Petersburg Bowl had an increase of 1,065 to watch Mississippi State beat Miami (Ohio). TaxSlayer Bowl President & CEO Rick Catlett, whose game drew its smallest crowd since '58, said, "The number of bowl games has hurt and ESPN has made the final four the only thing that matters. This began when the BCS kicked in and now we’re in the third year of the CFP and it’s not the same any more. ... When Florida and Iowa couldn’t sell out in the Outback Bowl, that told you something." He added, "It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the attendance is down dramatically at the level of the TaxSlayer, Outback and Buffalo Wild Wings bowls. Those have been three premier bowl games for 50-plus years. Ten or 15 years ago, there were half as many bowl games and all of them were doing 60,000, 65,000 (attendance). Now why else would that be down?" The TaxSlayer Bowl this year drew a crowd of 43,102 to EverBank Field for Georgia Tech's win over Kentucky. Smits notes the two lowest-attended TaxSlayer Bowls have involved Georgia Tech, this year and in '00. But Catlett said that he is "not going to criticize the ACC for slotting Tech to Jacksonville" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/4).
DOWN THE LINE: In Dallas, Evan Hoopfer noted the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium drew the game's lowest attendance figure in 19 years, though it was "somewhat expected," given the Wisconsin-Western Michigan matchup. Both school's campuses are around 1,000 miles from North Texas, and Western Michigan was the "highest-ranked team" in a Group of Five conference. Teams outside the Power Five conferences, "for the most part, don't have a strong following" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/3). Meanwhile, the Oklahoma-Auburn Allstate Sugar Bowl drew its lowest attendance figure since '39, and SECCOUNTRY.com's Nick Cole noted OU has "made frequent visits to New Orleans for the bowl game in recent years, which could explain the fan base’s lack of enthusiasm." Auburn was making its "first appearance in the game in 12 seasons" (SECCOUNTRY.com, 1/3). Pacers Dir of Corporate Communications Eddie White tweeted: "Yeah, right we need more bowls! Sugar Bowl worst attendance since '39; Cotton worst since '98; Gator worst since '58; Citrus since '79." Austin-based KVUE-ABC's Mike Barnes: "40 bowl games and only six had an attendance over 60,000. That's 34 below 60K, 15 below 30K, and 4 below 20K."
JUST RIGHT: SI.com's Andy Staples wrote the "argument against the bowls that have provided the bulk of our gridiron viewing opportunities for the past month is that bowls are supposed to reward superior performance." But as college administrators "realized they could get rich by turning the game into a multi-billion dollar business, bowls became simple television inventory." Fans "watch bowl games in reliable numbers at a time of the year when ratings typically sag." Staples: "There aren’t too many bowl games. There are exactly as many bowl games as the market will bear. If people didn’t watch, those games would go away" (SI.com, 1/3).
CHANGING UP THE MODEL? The AP's Ralph Russo wrote "chances are there will be fewer bowls" and maybe even "postseason games played on campus" in the future. Everyone "seems to agree that while the bowl system is not perfect, it does not need to be razed." Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said, "Beginning in 2020 I seriously doubt there will be 40 bowl games." But Russo noted no conference is "about [to] voluntarily shut down one of its bowls." Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who Chairs the NCAA D-I Football Oversight Committee, said that the group has been "analyzing data to determine how many bowl slots each conference can typically fill." When bowl lineups are reset for '20 and beyond, conferences will "likely be limited to a number that matches a five-year average of the eligible teams they have produced" (AP, 1/3). Russo tweeted, "Bowl attendance is down. Still more people in the stadium than if there was NOT a bowl that day. ... TV ratings for bowls are down. Still more people watching those games than just about anything else that ESPN could put on."
