Category Archives: Bowls

Increase in Bowl Attendance; Viewership Increases and Ratings

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Jan. 10, 2013
For Immediate Release
Football Bowl Association (FBA)

More Than Half of All Bowls Show Increase in Attendance

ORLANDO (FBA) – Eighteen of the 35 Football Bowl Association member bowls had increased attendance during this year’s bowl season. Overall, attendance at bowl games fell 2.4 percent this year compared to the same games last year, the Football Bowl Association announced today.

‘We had some great crowds at many bowls across the country, ‘ said Wright Waters, Executive Director of the Football Bowl Association. ‘Historically, the bowls have averaged close to 50,000 fans in attendance, and this year held true to form.’

The largest crowd of the bowl season belonged to the Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO with 93,359 fans in attendance to watch Stanford play Wisconsin. Finishing second in attendance, the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic had the second-largest crowd in the game’s 77-year history, with 87,025 on hand to watch Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M knock off Oklahoma.

Fourteen bowl games had crowds in excess of 50,000 and overall, 1,722,833 college football fans attended bowls this season.

‘If you compare bowl game attendance to other sports, including regular season college football, the stats this year measure up to what we are seeing across the country,’ said Waters. ‘There are lots of factors that affect attendance whether it is the state of the economy, weather or the matchups … many things bowls have control over, and many they don’t.’

For more information about the Football Bowl Association, visit footballbowlassociation.org.

Click here for a printable .pdf version of this release.

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Texas Aggies win 2013 Cotton Bowl

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by Travis Normand

Its been a long wait but I finally got to see Texas A&M win another Cotton Bowl.  The last time the Aggies won the Cotton Bowl was at the end of the 1987 season (January 1, 1988).  However, tonight (January 4, 2013) the Aggies defeated the Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12 co-champions) 41-13 and added another Field Scovell Trophy to the trophy case in College Station.

Cotton Bowl - Field Scovell Trophy

Cotton Bowl - Field Scovell Trophy

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2012 Alamo Bowl – “Clothed” Streaker!

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by Travis Normand

I completely missed this guy (and his streak) while watching the Alamo Bowl on TV last night.  The TV networks are usually pretty good about not putting these people on camera, as doing so might incentivize more streaking than is necessary (and yes, I am implying that a certain amount is “necessary”).

However, if I hadn’t seen this YouTube.com clip, I would have never known this happened.

I am not sure if sprinting the length of the football field, fully clothed, qualifies as a legitimate “streak.”  However, the runner does strike a nice Heisman pose in the far end zone and then appears to flee the scene without anyone ever trying to stop him.

I really love college football.  Well done sir….well done!

Baylor makes school history

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Baylor - 12Kby Travis Normand

The 2012 Holiday Bowl is Baylor’s third straight bowl game.  While this is not something that is typically worth mentioning, in Baylor’s case it is.  Why?  Because this is the first time in school history that Baylor has made it to three consecutive bowl games.

[1] Baylor’s run of bowl success started on December 29, 2010 when the Bears faced Illinois in the Texas Bowl.  The Bears lost this game to Illinois, 14-38.  This was Baylor’s first bowl game since the 1994 Alamo Bowl.

[2] One year later on December 29, 2011, the Bears faced the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl.  The Bears won the shoot-out by a score of 67-56.

[3] Finally, on December 27, 2012, the Bears faced UCLA in the Holiday Bowl and won by a score of 49-26.

As you can tell, the Bears are pretty stout in terms of offense as they scored 130 total points in the three bowl games listed above.  However, Baylor’s defense is still a work-in-progress as the Bears gave up a grand total of 120 points in these three games.

Click HERE to see Baylor’s bowl game history on Wikipedia

Chick-fil-A Bowl to bid for national championship and/or playoff semifinals

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by Travis Normand

The shine of the new college football playoff is already starting to wear off.  No, I am not talking about the advocates that spent years crying for a playoff only to criticize and complain about the proposed system before the ink was dry.

I am talking about how the national title game and/or the semifinal games could be named something as prestigious as The Chick-fil-A National Title Game / Semifinal.  Yes, apparently the Chick-fil-A Bowl is looking to bid for the national title and/or playoff games.

Wait…what?   I thought we were leaving sponsor names behind us with the bowl games?  I mean, even the NFL has the Super Bowl instead of the Company X NFL Championship Game.

While we are partly used to names such as the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl, we have also become use to names such as the Chick-fil-A Bowl and the PapaJohns.com Bowl.  Of course, we associate the later with bowls of a lower tier.

However, if any part of this playoff is named after a fast-food chain, you can go ahead and start processing the fact that …. *gasp* ….. it’s all about the money!

I thought one of the main arguments against the bowl system was that the bowls were all about money.  I seriously doubt this new playoff will be about anything other than money.

Cotton Bowl Press Release on New Post-Season Format

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by Travis Normand

RICK BAKER, PRESIDENT/CEO REGARDING POST-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
“It’s a great day for college football. We congratulate the conference commissioners and presidents for their diligent work to enhance the post season. We look forward to learning more about the opportunities that will be created by today’s announcement. With partners like AT&T and Cowboys Stadium, we believe we have a great story to tell.”

— Rick Baker, AT&T Cotton Bowl President / CEO

Release

If you know how I feel about a college football playoff, you know that I don’t really share Mr. Baker’s excitement.  However, if I were the Cotton Bowl President, I would be saying all the right things in hopes of getting my bowl into a better position regarding the new post-season format.

Roy Kramer

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by Travis Normand

Roy Kramer can now officially be credited for starting two things that everyone dislikes; the BCS and this blog.

Actually, I had already started working on this blog a while back which makes it tough to pin this one on Mr. Kramer.

Mr. Kramer was on the Paul Finebaum radio show recently and discussed the BCS, the Bowl System, and a few other things.  The interview was short, but very insightful.  I would recommend listening to it; which is the point of this post.

Anyway, while Mr. Kramer can’t really be credited with starting this blog, he can be credited for inspiring the first post!