Let’s go bowling!
Conn Carroll
Is there anything more uniquely American than college football’s bowl season?
In what other country do you have allegedly amateur athletes representing higher education institutions that they allegedly pursue studies at, participating in seemingly meaningless exhibitions in empty stadiums often hundreds of miles away from their college campus, all shamelessly plastered over with the gaudiest of corporate sponsorships?
I mean, who watches the 6-6 New Mexico State Aggies take on the 6-6 Bowling Green Falcons at Ford Field in Detroit in the Quick Lane Bowl?
What pitiful creatures tune in to see the Troy Trojans of the Sun Belt Conference take on the University of Texas at San Antonio Road Runners of Conference USA in the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida?
The answer is me. I watch these games. And I am not alone.
In 2021, the average bowl game was watched on television by 4.7 million people. That is over 1 million more viewers than what the average Major League Baseball playoff game got last year (3.5 million).
According to Sports Illustrated, this year’s Las Vegas Bowl, featuring the 6-6 Florida Gators and the 9-3 Oregon State Beavers, was viewed by more people (2.5 million) than that week’s highest-rated NBA regular season matchup (1.7 million people watched the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers).
“Just because some bowls don’t have an impact on the national championship, it doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful to a lot of people,” Bowl Season Executive Director Nick Carparelli told SI. “Coaches want to play in them and 90% of student-athletes want to play in them.”
It is true that more and more players who have a shot at being drafted in the NFL are skipping their school’s bowl games, but if anything, this is just a reminder of how few who play at the college level go on to the pros. Most college football players love the chance to take a free weeklong trip to a warm location in December.
Now the current system isn’t perfect. Going to a bowl game should be a reward for winning teams, not an expectation for everyone. They should probably go back to requiring at least a 7-5 record for all bowl teams, with 6-6 teams only being allowed to go in emergencies.
Bowl games could also be an opportunity for schools to put more money in the pockets of their players. Currently the conferences of each school are the ones getting the check from ESPN for televising the game. Maybe that money could be given to players as part of a “name, image, likeness” deal instead.
Whatever changes come to college football, I do hope they let us keep bowl season. In what other sport can you watch a grown man be doused with a giant bucket of oil and egg yolk after winning something called the Duke’s Mayo Bowl?