Comments on: Sugar Bowl attendance at its lowest since 1939

By: valiantdraws

valiantdraws — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:30:12 +0000

Too many meaningless bowls. Too many mediocre teams. No playoffs. No significance.

College football needs to install a complete playoff system that culminates in regional champions, and a national champion.

These bowls are the most uninteresting thing I can possibly think of. The Little Caesars Bowl? Even saying that makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

By: mbankston

mbankston — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:30:05 +0000

For the 16,8,4,2,1 guy. You trully are a moron. Most major college teams have already played 10 or 11 games. So you think they are going to play another 4 or 5. Get real.

By: v2the4

v2the4 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 06:51:15 +0000

There are in fact way too many bowl games…and mediocre teams who went 7-5 or 6-6 in a bcs conference are being rewarded with 15 extra practices, travel expenditures, bowl goodies(watches, gift cards, etc), and television exposure.

The players get rewarded for once in a lifetime trips(Northern Illinois to Miami, Toledo to Idaho, etc) but the entire system is tied to $$$$$, regardless of attendance. Its too late to turn back now.

ESPN and the sponsors just pour out money to host these games, regardless of it they are in Birmingham or Charlotte or Detroit or Boise.

By: irishdodger

irishdodger — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:29:54 +0000

The one place jean shorts are welcome & encouraged other than Florida is Louisiana, so you’d think Gator fans would flock to the Sugar Bowl.

By: cometkazie

cometkazie — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:17:55 +0000

I not really up to go to regular season games.

Why should I go to a bowl?

Stay at home and watch it on TV. At least I can turn it off when the game goes south.

By: foreverlsu

foreverlsu — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:07:32 +0000

melikefootball says:Jan 3, 2013 12:30 PM

We have witnessed two big name school during the bowl games LSU another show a lot of classless play.
_____________________

Huh? Can you write that in English please?

Classless play? How so, moron?

By: danoregon

danoregon — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:59:23 +0000

They could cut 8 to 10 games tomorrow. You’d still have room for top finishers of lesser conferences, cut out the middling finishers of the big conferences – and not only would quality of play improve. Teams would actually appreciate going to these games, wherever they are played.

By: tonyricemajorharris

tonyricemajorharris — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:31:49 +0000

I blame the fat cat bowl organizers. Do you think they care very much about what teams are playing in their crappy bowl??? Fat cats get rich quick and easy

By: rcali

rcali — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:02:15 +0000

Bowl City = Airline flights, hotel rates, rental car rates double. We all just got more poor with our countries brilliant leadership. Expect more people to stay home and watch. Technically ESPN is more than happy to have us watch it on TV.

By: seamus0317

seamus0317 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:00:16 +0000

Way too many bowl games! We have a confidence pool every year with 20 guys and we have cut it down to 25 relevant games. Too many “who?” Bowl games out there!

By: thegamecocker

thegamecocker — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:59:52 +0000

@rolltide510

Reasons to watch at home: clean bathrooms / 80″ HDTV / reasonable price for food / nicer element of people / don’t have to put up with weather / can switch channels during ads / etc.

By: bat42boy

bat42boy — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:11:25 +0000

Do away with BSC games and go back to the original bowl games and you’ll see attendance go way up. Remember the great Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Gator bowls back in the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and early 90′s. That was great football with teams that won many games. We don’t need a playoff system. I’m old school football.

By: brandontroutman

brandontroutman — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:06:12 +0000

There are too many bowls, that is a fact. You should not be able to enter a bowl, and then leave the bowl with a losing record. (Meaning, 7-5 should be the bowl minimum, not 6-6).

Sure, a San Jose St. team goes 11-2 and deserves a bowl, that’s perfectly acceptable. On the other hand, Va. Tech goes 6-6 and get’s into a bowl on coach’s name, not acceptable.

Perform, or stay home. It should be that simple. Every pizza joint, sporting outfit, or car care place should not have a bowl.

By: irishdodger

irishdodger — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:37:35 +0000

Considering the improvement in record Florida saw from last season to this season, I would think they would have travelled well for the Sugar Bowl. Maybe Gator fans are spoiled. After all, when is the last time they left their state for an out of conference regular season game.

By: irishdodger

irishdodger — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:34:51 +0000

I hate bowl games, especially the BCS NC, being played on a week night. I suppose the long layoff is due to semester finals & the holidays but its become ridiculous. It’s no wonder we see players cramping up after being off for a month in the winter & then going to play in the humidity. I was amazed to see even players from southern schools cramping up.

By: gatorprof

gatorprof — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:30:39 +0000

UF didn’t travel as they viewed the bowl as a consolation prize not worth their time.

Looks like the team prepared with the same mind set.

I would be livid if I traveled to watch them get destroyed by the Cards.

They didn’t even sell out all home games this year!

They had a nasty habit of squeaking by team that “on paper” they should have killed. You saw this last night. The fan base wasn’t excited about the product…not excited enough to spend all that money to travel.

Young, immature team not handling a little success well. They will learn and hopefully be a better team next year.

The fan base is still skeptical. Last night didn’t help.

By: mogogo1

mogogo1 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:04:34 +0000

It sounds like Louisville did their part but Florida fans had better things to do. But who exactly was supposed to go to that Sugar Bowl played on a Wednesday after New Year’s? Retirees? The unemployed? Most people aren’t that into using vacation time or going on expensive trips immediately after the holidays.

By: soobster

soobster — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:46:37 +0000

Can’t we just call it what it was. If you’re a UF backer, why in the world would you dish out the expenses involved with going to New Orleans to see them play Louisville? If it was Oklahoma I know a lot of UF fans that would have made that trek.

By: tomtravis76

tomtravis76 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:45:12 +0000

The Bowl games are glorified scrimmages. The only game that matters is the National Championship at the end of the regular season and conference championship games.If the bowl games were playoff games then the public/casual fans would tune in at record numbers.

By: canehouse

canehouse — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:16:56 +0000

Brownstown… Last I checked we haven’t had a team relocate to Baltimore… or we haven’t had a homegrown phenom “take their talents to the mistake by the lake”… When’s the last time Cleveland won anything?? By the way Lebron had to come down here to win a championship… Many more to come!!!!

By: boondocksaint7

boondocksaint7 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:16:00 +0000

Move a few weekday bowls to Christmas Day. A lot more viewers are home and prefer college football to the NBA!

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:14:50 +0000

I agree there are too many bowl games, largely because I don’t think 6-6 teams should be in one. However, that’s the current rules again due to TV $. I don’t think that’s changing either, in which case I think LA Tech (9-3) and Middle TN (8-4) might think there should be one more bowl game.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:10:08 +0000

Butlers91 is right, scheduling bowl games on weekdays after Jan 1 is a recipe for decreased attendance. Of course, the scheduling is for TV purposes. So the issue becomes deciding which is more important–butts in seats or maximizing TV revenue and advertising. TV money wins every time.

As for quality matchups, Hopefully that improves some in 2014. If Northern Illinois isn’t put into the Orange Bowl, then Louisville goes there instead of the Sugar–and Oklahoma would have been Florida’s opponent. Fair or not, more tickets would then have been sold for both games.

By: BrownsTown

BrownsTown — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:54:57 +0000

Florida fans just don’t support any of their football teams, college or pro. Maybe UF will relocate as well.

By: wvuandsteelers

wvuandsteelers — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:49:45 +0000

I’ve always thought we should have a true playoff system and use the bowls for the playoff games. If 32 teams make the playoffs, you get a grand total of 31 games (16/8/4/2/1). I think right now you have about 30 bowls. So, Shreveport, LA can still get in on the action. You schedule the playoff games as close to the top teams as possible (for example, Alabama might play in Birmingham). My guess is fans would show up for more meaningful games that are closer to home.

By: the1bigbird

the1bigbird — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:40:38 +0000

Regional bowls make a lot of sense. The Chick Fila Bowl always seels out with the ACC SEC matchup. Who would want to go regional bowl games in Indy, Minn. or Detroit? That is another issue.

By: zurnvs

zurnvs — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:32:57 +0000

1) yes there are to many bowl 2) sorry I don’t want to watch San Jose St, even at 11-2 3) 4-6 hour drive to see ur team would work 4) some fans just travel better than others 5) Florida was overrated 6) takes to long after season to get to the games 7) playoff system isn’t going to improve this product, it will get worse

By: butlers91

butlers91 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:31:00 +0000

Duh…this is what happens when you play the games during the week and after Jan 1. Most of us just had time off, and can’t really justify taking more time off during the first week of the year. If these were between Dec 25 and Jan 1, they would be well attended.

By: melikefootball

melikefootball — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:30:11 +0000

No wonder fans are staying home, you watched another team play a game as thugs in Florida. We have witnessed two big name school during the bowl games LSU another show a lot of classless play. The NCAA should come down on the coaches and players and stop the crap on the field.

By: boondocksaint7

boondocksaint7 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:29:48 +0000

Blame the NCAA, teams that travel and have excellent following Ohio st, penn st., Miami, and North Carolina were not eligible allowing lesser teams in. Costing millions in revenue. Some violated NCAA rules and some did not. And let’s not forget the Louisiana tech debacle. Don’t cry about poor attendance when a good portion of the responsibility falls on the NCAA. NFL doesn’t have a post season ban on the saints for bounty gait or the Patriots for spy gate. Why? Because they are not stupid and do not bite the hand that feeds.