It’s kind of funny, really. The reason given for so long that a College Football Playoff could not exist - eventual bracket creep that would inevitably ruin bowl season - has already consumed the bowl industry.
According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy - the Edward R. Murrow of the bowl industry - the 2015-16 bowl season could have as many as 43 games after Orlando, Fla., Austin, Tex., Tucson, Ariz., and Little Rock, Ark., applied for certifications ahead of the NCAA deadline.Austin, Little Rock, Tucson & Orlando applied for new bowls, sources told @ESPN. If approved, 43 bowls this year
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) April 1, 2015
Forty-three bowl games equates to 86 teams. That’s more than two-thirds of FBS membership and well above the number of annual eligible teams based on current qualification standards. “Wednesday was the deadline for cities seeking to add a new bowl. The NCAA will make a decision in a few weeks whether to approve the games,” McMurphy notes.
Added an anonymous source: “As long as the standard to go to a bowl remains 6-6, commissioners will be pressured to have bowl games for all their conference teams to play in. That’s why you keep seeing more and more bowls added.”
The American Athletic Conference is the main source for the push. If each of the new games is approved, McMurphy notes, the AAC will have slots for nine of its 12 teams. So what we’re talking about is games between a 6-6 Temple and a a 6-6 Middle Tennessee.
Proposed new bowls: Austin (AAC vs. C-USA), Tucson (MWC vs. C-USA), Orlando (AAC vs. SB), Little Rock (AAC vs. SB)
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) April 1, 2015
Two things to note here:
1. Assuming all four games achieve certification that doesn’t necessarily mean there will actually be 43 bowl games following this season. Who’s to say fledgling bowl games in Birmingham or the like are actually coming back?
2. Ultimately, bowl games are exhibitions designed to draw television audiences. They’re TV shows. Those who care will watch and those who don’t will find something else to do. No one’s pointing a gun at anyone’s head here. If you complain about new bowl games while at the same time are not planning on watching the games your complaints are lobbied toward, one can only assume you also gather pitchforks and poster board every time Bravo announces its fall lineup.