Changes Coming for Non-BCS Bowls

[darvon]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...2_a7&eref=sihp

Looks like the bowls are being pulled apart.

Here is my Marketing Analysis.




Schools guaranteeing ticket blocks don't work. Due to StubHub et al.

TV ratings are good for 35 bowls.

Bowls work where the fans can DRIVE rather than fly, but at a new destination not home.

Conferences are going to start owning the IP rights, and pay bowls to host events.

ESPN wants 35 bowls, they need the programming.

Contracts expire next year.

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So what to do???



1) Redistribute the location of the secondary bowls to get them to driving distance of most of the schools, most of the time, but at a tourist locale.
Like: Chicago, NYC, DC, ATL, Birmingham, KC, Dallas, Denver, SF, LA, Phoenix, and the secondary cities like Savannah. Use more Southern Secondary Cities.

2) These are TV events, with a ticketed event. TV can go anywhere, place the event to maximize ticket penetration.

3) Start locking up the secondary ticket market, like the NFL has.

4) Conferences OWN the bowls, which allow the geography to be maximized, pay the "bowl committee" to stage the event. Conferences own Merchandising/Ticket/TV/IP rights.

5) Start putting the matchup synthisized in a MMOP for the fans as a buildup to the event.

6) How about allowing a cascade? I.E. The winners of the Domino's Pizza Bowl and the Axe Fragrance for Men Bowl meet a week later in the Nutella Bowl. The NCAA already has to let the Playoff winner play an extra game, most of the others won't have played in a CCG so there shouldn't be a problem.

7) How about a bowl in Europe? or Hawaii? or Japan? Forget the fans travelling, just make it a tourist attraction for the locals. Then the long layoff wouldn't be an issue, it could be absorbed by travel. You might get a few bucks on local TV rights.

8) How about a two game bowl? have an afternoon game and then a PM game, different teams. Then you could get some overlap ticket sales to the other schools.

9) How about a Winner Takes All bowl, where the loser gets no $$$. Can we get a lottery tie-in? Didn't NJ pass a law that allowed Football gambling on lottery tickets?

10) September Bowls. This was already invented by Jerry Jones. Big Team hot matchups at Jerry's World in September where the ticket is the driver.


Bottom line, like everything profitable in the NCAA, the Conferences will take over and run it for their exclusive profit. How about the NCAA running some bowls??? Nah...that would take cajones.

[wxwax]

If the Sugar, Orange, Capital One etc. want to host games which fans care about, they ought to lobby for an expanded playoff. That's the only way fans will get excited and support their game.

Otherwise, these made-up games will continue to suffer from irrelevance. Every once in a while you'll get a dream geographical match-up like Texas A&M-Oklahoma. But mostly you'll get versions of tepid tilts like Michigan-VaTech and FSU-Northern illinois.

I assume the reasons for the current problem are twofold: the championship game has a knock-on effect, and the glut of brutal bowls saps the willpower and snaps shut the wallet.

Healthy exhibition game attendance and an obese TV schedule are mutually destructive. What's good for the ESPN couch potato with a remote and a beer is not good for a Sugar Bowl.

[darvon]

Healthy exhibition game attendance and an obese TV schedule are mutually destructive. What's good for the ESPN couch potato with a remote and a beer is not good for a Sugar Bowl.

However, the non-BCS bowls no longer drive their own car. The Conferences drive the car and ESPN pays for the gas. The only "problem" is that a) The Conferences want more money/control (and they will get it). b) Therefore the conferences would like to maximize ticket sales.

The bowls don't have any say anymore, they are just the people that own the event site and can stage the event for hire.

[darvon]

There are SOME bowls that are selling out on tickets. A management hand is needed to guide the lesser bowls to optimal profitability, which might include a lot of relocation.

TV ratings are still good.