What if…The Future of Bowl Games

What if…

Tempe, Phoenix, and Glendale held three bowl games each over six days, with the Fiesta being the last game of the week as part of the CFP. The event could be billed as a Bowl-a-Polloza or Bowl-a-Thon. College football fans from around the country would descend on the Valley in waves. Have a golden ticket to all six games. 

What if the bowls started paying players to participate in their games rather than just giving out the usual swag bags? What if a high-end player was offered a large sum of money to play in the bowl rather than opting out? What if the bowl paid the insurance policy for the player in case of injury(remember Jaylon Smith for Notre Dame in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl)?

What if the University of Washington has another terrific season in 2024, and the fan base is asked to follow them to the Big 10 title game in Indianapolis, followed by asking that same fan to pay for round one of the CFP against a clearly inferior opponent (like we saw with Liberty on New Years Day) Will that UW fan pay to go to a blowout, or will they hang on to their money for the second round match up in the CFP, in which case the first game is attended as poorly as the Fiesta was on Monday? 

What if the CFP games are on weeknights, specifically Wednesdays and Fridays? How much work will that same fan be willing to miss to go to the first or second-round matchup? In New Orleans or Atlanta, that may work well to drive to,  but not in Phoenix. If Penn State played Florida State in Glendale in a second-round game, would enough local college football fans show up? Asking fans on one week’s notice to fly to Phoenix is a pricey proposition…

What if December was a month of football on the field rather than what is currently taking place? Transfer portal, coaching turnover, opt-outs, early signing period of recruiting. Outside of the two tremendous CFP semi-final games, we were left with the media going orgasmic over a  Pop-Tart and a jar of mayonnaise. Fan bases were left to games that resembled spring training baseball split squads, with number 99 throwing to number 73 behind home plate(who are these guys?). Cheap holiday programming for the networks…

If you believe everything with the current bowl system is just fine, you must be getting a check from the CFP or one of the bowl games because things are NOT just fine…