College bowl games face tough sell

[pmull]

The bowl selection system is screwed up and this article does a good job of pointing out why. There is no reason the major bowls do not have better matchups than they do.

They’re discounting Orange Bowl tickets by 50 percent at Florida State and giving them away at Northern Illinois.

The University of Florida, for all of the professed excitement of its fan base for an unexpected 11-1 season, is lagging far behind Louisville in ticket sales for their Sugar Bowl matchup.

Meanwhile, at the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl, a game between Northwestern and Mississippi State seems to be quickening pulses only in Evanston, Ill., and Starkville, Miss.

In Orlando, Georgia fans are bouncing back from the shock and disappointment of losing the SEC championship game and are close to selling out the school’s 12,500-ticket allotment. The Bulldogs’ opponent … not so much. Nebraska is reporting ticket sales of only about 4,000 for its second trip in a row to Orlando.

It’s not just the economy or high ticket prices. At issue is the current bowl system, which is leading to tepid matchups in BCS bowls because of the requirement to give non-automatic qualifying conferences access and more questionable games in non-BCS bowls because of the desire of conferences to “protect” their championship game losers.

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[Catch Prothro]

The bowl selection system is screwed up and this article does a good job of pointing out why. There is no reason the major bowls do not have better matchups than they do.

because of the desire of conferences to “protect” their championship game losers.

I'm not sure what this bold part means.

Florida never seems to pay for the Sugar Bowl.  In 2009, we were able to get Sugar Bowl tickets at face value early in the season, figuring that if Bama ended up there we would have a N.O. trip, and (even better) if Florida was there it would be Tebow's last game as a Gator.  Well, we ended up having to sell at a discount to Florida fans, perhaps disillusioned by Tebow's tears.

Most bowls want to invite teams that bring good attendance to their cities, or at least good TV ratings.  (So sometimes a team like Bama might get picked over a Mississippi State during those dark years.)  But the confines of the bowl system, including trying to let the little guy play, does limit choices, especially in BCS bowls.

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