Bowling for Dollars
It’s easy to tell when it’s the holiday season. It gets colder,
the New York Giants are in the midst of their annual 2nd half
collapse, you hear such classics as “Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer” and
“The Hanukah Song” on the radio, and we get inundated by college football bowl
games. You don’t believe me. When I was born, there were 15 bowl games all
around January 1st. Now, there are 35 bowls, taking place over three weeks.
Let’s get into what grinds my gears about the bowl system.
Back in the day, college teams went to bowl games based on
their conference affiliation. If you won the Pac-10 or Big Ten, you went to the
Rose Bowl while the SEC champs went to the Sugar Bowl, regardless of your
rankings. The champion was determined after all the bowls by the AP and Coaches
Polls. People questioned the system altogether, wondering how a champion can be
named when the #1 team in the country played an inferior opponent in their bowl
game. In 1984, #1 BYU beat a 6-5 Michigan team to secure the national title. In
1995, NCAA created the Bowl Coalition that tried to match up the top two ranked
teams among the top bowls (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta) in the country. However, the
Rose Bowl did not join as they chose to keep their tradition intact. In 1997,
it resulted in a split championship when #1 Michigan won their Rose Bowl game while
#2 Nebraska beat #3 Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. Due to this, the Bowl
Championship Series was created and included all the major conferences. It also
created a system that has been shredded by all sports fans in America.
There have been years when the top two teams in the country
are easy to determine. However, most of the time there has been debates. The
easiest example of this is this year. LSU is undefeated and earned a spot in
the championship game. But what about the #2 spot. Alabama’s only loss is to
LSU in a close game. However, that loss prevented ‘Bama from playing in their
conference championship game. Oklahoma State won their conference, but lost to
a shitty Iowa State team (the day after two OSU basketball coaches were killed
in a plane crash) during the season. The disagreement ensued the last few
weeks. Should a team play in the BCS title game if it didn’t win their
conference? Alabama prevailed as the #2 by the slimmest of margins in the
rankings. I agree with that, but I know about 40% of America would tell me to
go fuck myself as OSU deserves the spot. Another 20% would say Stanford (or
another team) should be in the mix.
College football fans say they need a playoff system. 16
teams play until one team can be crowned the champs. For us, it makes sense. To
the NCAA, that would be a nightmare scenario. They say playing the additional
games will hurt the academics of these athletes during their finals schedule in
December. That’s a bunch of bullshit. The NCAA are pimps to the players’ role
as prostitutes. The players do not earn any money (they do get scholarships and
many benefits that regular students don’t get) in this billion dollar industry.
The schools, the conferences, and the NCAA all profit directly. The one thing
it would create is a logistical nightmare for the fans. It would be a lot to
expect fans to travel to four various locations if they followed their team on
their championship run.
My other serious gripe about the bowl system is the bowls
don’t care about the matchups, they care about turnout. This year, Virginia
Tech received an at-large bid to the Sugar Bowl over Arkansas, Kansas State,
and Boise State. Virginia Tech should have been in the discussion, but should
have never gotten this bid. All the other teams deserved to go (I understand
passing over Arkansas since they went to the Sugar Bowl last year) over VT. The
bowl committee said past success and reputation played a factor in their
invite. What they should have said is they will sell their tickets. Each team
is responsible for selling their allotment of tickets to the game. The Sugar
Bowl was hoping that VT would sell their 17,500 ticket allotment, figuring the
local economy will get a boost. Right now, VT is about 10,000 tickets short of
selling out. More people on buying tickets on secondary markets, like Stubhub,
since these tickets are cheaper. While those Hokie fans will pack the
Superdome, that doesn’t count towards the allotment. Luckily, Virginia Tech’s
conference, the ACC, has a bylaw that will buy all unsold tickets. So, the
school won’t take the loss by itself, it will be shared with all the ACC
schools. While I know my friends will have a great time in New Orleans, I hope
they realize their trip is undeserved.
Profits are always a big issue with the bowl games. By
making a bowl game, the school gets money to attend (the bigger the game, the
bigger the payout.) This is usually shared among all the schools in its
conference. However, the school must pick up all of the expenses. It’s not
uncommon for a school to lose money for attending a bowl game. Connecticut lost
about $1.8 million for attending the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, most of the loss from
the 15,000 tickets they couldn’t sell. Nevada has currently sold ten tickets
for their Hawaii Bowl game on Saturday.
Despite its flaws, I still like the bowl system. There will
always be a controversy in NCAA football, even if there is a 16-team playoff. I
am sure people will be arguing just like when they announce the NCAA basketball
tournament bracket, about certain teams not making it. It’s part of the
fun/frustration. As for the games themselves, the coaching staff loves the
extra practice time they wouldn’t get otherwise. And it seems the players love
it as well. You look at the reaction the players and fans had when LA Lafayette
beat San Diego State with a 50-yard field goal at the end of regulation. Sure,
most people could care less about lesser games like the Potato Bowl, but some
still do. And for that, the haters can eat a dick. Merry Christmas!!
-Written by Marcus Boyd 
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