As the once-omnipresent ESPN promo used to promise with Andy Williams’ timeless lilt, once again “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” if you’re a college football fan. As BLEACHER REPORT’s Timothy Rapp eagerly chirped on Sunday:
Are you ready for five nonstop weeks of college football?
Of course you are. Bowl season—and now expanded College Football Playoff season—are among us.
And as if further endorsement was necessary, one could turn yesterday to CBS SPORTS’ Brad Crawford for it, not to mention validation for anything that might be justifiably accused of being indicative of addiction:
Don’t allow the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff blur your vision — there’s never too many bowl games! Postseason football may have lost some of its luster thanks to the allure of the 12-team bracket, but no one enjoys the bowl calendar during the holidays as much as I do. Yes, that even includes the matchups involving 6-6 teams.
We know player opt outs are coming, and there’s a plethora of coaching changes this month that will alter preparation and focus, but a chance to end the season on a high note heading into the 2025 season is high on the priority scale for the 82 teams still with a game — or more — to play.
But you see, Brad, that exact same overly apolegetic sentence is exactly the issue I have that leaves me more conflicted than ever about looking forward to that upcoming pigskin overdose. And it is because of that CFP expansion that I honestly think the time has come to rethink the whole bowl scene.
When there was a two or even a four-team playoff, bowls provided both a destination for the teams that were good enough to qualify for a championship bracket which would begin play more than three weeks after the participants were announced. They were contested in warmer weather and domed stadium destinations , most with traditions going back to the 1930s or earlier. And the dizzying array of games that would lead up to it, on most days a minimum of two that filled the scheduling drought while people were on holiday vacations, provided ample enough entertainment and enough ratings for ESPN and for sponsors to justify it.
But in addition to the reality check that now no “standard” bowl is getting any combatant better than #13 in the country, the fact is that the teams that are competing that earned their way in, even at 6-6, are often not fielding the same lineups that got them there in the first place. Thank you, NIL, not to mention concerns about injuries. In many cases, in effect you’re rooting for the laundry.
And honestly, sponsors, are you really getting your money’s worth targeting product placements that don’t exactly translate to college students and uber-passionate alumni? And are those alumni really jumping at the opportunity for a holiday junket in a climate that isn’t dramatically better than the one they call home?
Can any Bowling Green or Arkansas State fan tell me that they’re lining up to schlep down to Mobile, Alabama for the 68 VENTURES BOWL–a mid-major clash now working on its seventh sponsor in a quarter-century?
Are Minnesota and Virginia Tech fans going to rush out and corner the market on Duke’s Mayo because of anything they may see in a game that will be played after the New Year’s Eve/Day quarterfinals of the CFP?
Is the state of Arizona going to materially benefit from the influx of having Snoop Dogg carpet-bag his way into Tucson, or from a titanic showdown between Rutgers and Kansas State in a prematurely decaying domed baseball stadium in Phoenix that has dropped the word “Guaranteed” from its “Rate Bowl” monicker because, again, there’s no guarantee those teams’ stars are even going to play?
Will disappointed Miami Hurricane fans rush out and buy significantly more Pop Tarts than they otherwise might after a night of debauchery to celebrate their place as a “home-ish” team (Orlando) in what Crawford contends is the best matchup outside of the one-time “New Year’s Six” that thanks to expansion will now be played out through January 10th?
And if sponsorship is really all it’s cracked up to be, pray tell why has no sponsor been lined up to put a name on the new first round games that are attracting most of the attention beyond alumni and, of course, compulsive gamblers that will begin a week from Friday night–and thus eliminate that seemingly interminable gap between conference championships and actual playoffs that we’ve previously endured?
BLEACHER REPORT’s Kendall Baker threw out this intriguing alternative on his newsletter that subscribers received this morning:
Fun idea to ponder: Now that college football has a postseason tournament, why not add another one for the next-best teams that don’t make the 12-team CFP?
I kinda like it. Reward a few more schools with actual home games and gate receipts, and eliminate the cost of travel and lodging for its most ardent fans, and dismiss the crapshoot of winding up in a destination venue or not. If a significant game can be played at night in December in Columbus, Ohio, it can certainly work in Ames, Iowa. Pop-Tarts or not.
And yet…I will probably tune in when work or better leisure options exist. I’m not quite as forgiving as Crawford or his compatriots, but I’m also not that far behind. And for what is clearly a period of transition, and so long as ESPN is a willing enabler, I doubt the NCAA will be inclined to do a thing.
But I can also foresee there’s a day not far down the road when this will come to a head. And not even the allure of toaster pastries, mayonnaise and gin will be able to stop it.
Courage…