http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca.../20896969/

(12-26-2014 09:54 AM)rocketinchitown Wrote:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca.../20896969/

Quote:Asked how big the system could still grow, Wright Waters, the executive director of the Football Bowl Association, said he hopes to have "the right number of games for the number of teams eligible — so we don't leave anybody at home."

Ughhh!

(12-26-2014 09:54 AM)rocketinchitown Wrote:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca.../20896969/

I read that article in the newspaper and was going to post.

Anyone who looks upon bowls as games designed to sell many, many thousand tickets, fill stadiums, produce big ticket revenues, etc. is living back in the 20th century.

As MANY of us MAC fans know, ESPN wants as much LIVE CONTENT as they can get, be it the Bahamas Bowl, mid-week November MACtion, etc. etc.

If they get 1M watching on television, web, mobile devices, they really don't care much if the stadium is 75 or 50 or 25% full.

As was pointed out in the article, ESPN owns the Bahamas Bowl. Zero rights fees. I'm sure it (the bowl) was costed out so ESPN would not lose money, and they got what they wanted, 4 hours of live content. Someone figures out the finances and the sponsors and school (buying tickets) maybe the numbers work.

The MAC and C-USA got what they wanted, too: a bowl game with some appeal - Bahamas. ESPN also got what they wanted, two teams which couldn't defensively stop anything.

Not only did they get live content, but they got a lot of content for SPORTS CENTER. On Christmas Eve, content for Sports Center isn't as plentiful

MAC attendance has been weak for years. Now we discover we were just ahead of the curve.

The MAC: the broadcast only conference.

(12-26-2014 10:20 AM)axeme Wrote:  MAC attendance has been weak for years. Now we discover we were just ahead of the curve.

The MAC: the broadcast only conference.

Yep, ahead of the curve.

We're a conference which cares enough to watch on television, web, etc. but not enough to drive 25 miles to a basketball arena or sit in sub-freezing temps for a football game.

Those fans who used to drive 25 miles because it WAS the ONLY way to see the game, realize that now it is optional.

At EMU, they're complaining that students won't drive (or take the shuttle bus) to an arena say 2M away from campus to watch an evening basketball game.

(the old Bowen Fieldhouse was on campus and conveniently located to on campus residents).

CUSA now actually owns this bowl. They bought it. I fully expect it to be moved to the home stadium of one of their members once the original 6 year agreement expires. Rice Stadium or the Alamodome would be the two most likely locations. Both cities only have southern warm weather locations with only one other existing bowl to compete with.

(12-26-2014 12:12 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  CUSA now actually owns this bowl. They bought it. I fully expect it to be moved to the home stadium of one of their members once the original 6 year agreement expires. Rice Stadium or the Alamodome would be the two most likely locations. Both cities only have southern warm weather locations with only one other existing bowl to compete with.

What is the status of the MAC with this game?

(12-26-2014 03:52 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 12:12 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  CUSA now actually owns this bowl. They bought it. I fully expect it to be moved to the home stadium of one of their members once the original 6 year agreement expires. Rice Stadium or the Alamodome would be the two most likely locations. Both cities only have southern warm weather locations with only one other existing bowl to compete with.

What is the status of the MAC with this game?

As far as I know, the game is tied to G5 conferences until the 6 year agreement is over. Once that agreement expires, CUSA will be free to explore other ties (and locations). Like any bowl, there are no guarantees after the current agreement expires. When it comes to bowls, it's basically a free for all every 6 years. FWIW--existing ties/relationships do seem to help when it comes to bowl tie renegotiations---though its certainly no guarantee.

Was at game. Was not 85 percent empty and locals were supporting and talking about it before and after.

Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

(12-26-2014 07:37 PM)HuronDave Wrote:  Was at game. Was not 85 percent empty and locals were supporting and talking about it before and after.

This is a main point for local attendance at the game ... there's likely to be people thinking about going who didn't go this time, who are more likely to go next year ... since when it comes up in conversation next year, instead of the person who actually went saying, "I'm thinking of going to the game", they'll be saying, "I went to the game last year, you should come along this time."

(12-26-2014 05:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As far as I know, the game is tied to G5 conferences until the 6 year agreement is over. Once that agreement expires, CUSA will be free to explore other ties (and locations).

Though if they were buying it looking to move it, there was no need to buy it at the front end of a six year commitment to the Bahamas.

(12-26-2014 08:43 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 07:37 PM)HuronDave Wrote:  Was at game. Was not 85 percent empty and locals were supporting and talking about it before and after.

This is a main point for local attendance at the game ... there's likely to be people thinking about going who didn't go this time, who are more likely to go next year ... since when it comes up in conversation next year, instead of the person who actually went saying, "I'm thinking of going to the game", they'll be saying, "I went to the game last year, you should come along this time."

(12-26-2014 05:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As far as I know, the game is tied to G5 conferences until the 6 year agreement is over. Once that agreement expires, CUSA will be free to explore other ties (and locations).

Though if they were buying it looking to move it, there was no need to buy it at the front end of a six year commitment to the Bahamas.

You buy it when you can.

(12-26-2014 10:37 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 08:43 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Though if they were buying it looking to move it, there was no need to buy it at the front end of a six year commitment to the Bahamas.

You buy it when you can.

With respect to the OP, suggesting that unless things change it is not financially viable, CUSA buying a bowl that will not be financially viable implies that it will be a substantial money drain to CUSA over the next six years.

And that claim that "you buy substantial ongoing holes in your budget when you can" is a bit dubious.

It may be the case that "you buy it when you can" if the financial viability of the bowl itself is not in serious doubt, but then its a lot less automatic that it would be moved at the end of the six years.

BTW, ESPN continues to have good fortune with their bowl games this year.

Think the last three yesterday were 3, 1, 3 point margin games.

Lot of draw schools like PSU, USC, Nebraska, S. Carolina, etc. on a holiday Saturday.

And on other channels they had IU/GTown and KY/L'ville hoops. Amazing!!!

Was there 'meaningful' life before ESPN? :)

(12-27-2014 10:39 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 10:37 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 08:43 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Though if they were buying it looking to move it, there was no need to buy it at the front end of a six year commitment to the Bahamas.

You buy it when you can.

With respect to the OP, suggesting that unless things change it is not financially viable, CUSA buying a bowl that will not be financially viable implies that it will be a substantial money drain to CUSA over the next six years.

And that claim that "you buy substantial ongoing holes in your budget when you can" is a bit dubious.

It may be the case that "you buy it when you can" if the financial viability of the bowl itself is not in serious doubt, but then its a lot less automatic that it would be moved at the end of the six years.

My guess is that once the ticket allotments, sponsorships, hotel occupancy requirement payments, and media rights payments are all recieved---the costs associated with the bowl are low enough that the bowl is fine. Think about it, there is no expensive bowl president or staff to pay. The bowl is largely handled by the CUSA league staff with a couple of low paid local officials running the local on the ground volunteer organization. Staff is probably flown in for a week or two prior to bowl week to help during the final bowl ramp up where needed. Heck, to my knowledge the payout of this bowl is unknown. It may be less than 500K.

The proposed Dubai Bowl which didn't get off the ground because schools were afraid to commit to going to the Middle East (except for Army, they were telling anyone who would listen that it is safer than most US cities) flat-out told the conferences they approached they didn't care if either team sold a single ticket.

They were willing to foot the bill to get Dubai in front of a US TV audience. Tickets meant nothing to them.

The Bahamas game would have had a casino as title sponsor but the folks in Indianapolis frowned on that.

(12-28-2014 05:28 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  My guess is that once the ticket allotments, sponsorships, hotel occupancy requirement payments, and media rights payments are all recieved---the costs associated with the bowl are low enough that the bowl is fine. Think about it, there is no expensive bowl president or staff to pay. The bowl is largely handled by the CUSA league staff with a couple of low paid local officials running the local on the ground volunteer organization. Staff is probably flown in for a week or two prior to bowl week to help during the final bowl ramp up where needed.

Which was my point - with respect to how CUSA buying the bowl applies to the original post, if the game was a financial black hole, CUSA would not have bought it just to be able to move it in six years time.

Quote: Heck, to my knowledge the payout of this bowl is unknown. It may be less than 500K.

Since CUSA now owns it and AFAIR is now committed to play in it four to six years out of six, from a third to a half of the payout is CUSA writing a check to itself. The only actual payment there is any portion of a bowl payment that CUSA pays out to the participating school.

I've heard that CUSA had some organizational issues this year because the Atlantis didn't take the lead as expected. Whether that's a one year glitch or the game isn't on as good of a footing as hoped remains to be seen.

They have some options if Bahamas ends up not panning out.

Little Rock wants in the bowl business (and has a title sponsor). ANG has toyed with the idea of a game at the LA Galaxy stadium. There is some upscale (by Florida standards) community that has floated the idea of adding temporary seating to their polo stadium to make it as large as Montgomery's stadium to host a bowl. Charleston wants or at least wanted a game but they have the flag issue. San Marcos, Texas has made an inquiry about hosting as well.

(12-29-2014 11:45 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  I've heard that CUSA had some organizational issues this year because the Atlantis didn't take the lead as expected. Whether that's a one year glitch or the game isn't on as good of a footing as hoped remains to be seen.

They have some options if Bahamas ends up not panning out.

Little Rock wants in the bowl business (and has a title sponsor). ANG has toyed with the idea of a game at the LA Galaxy stadium. There is some upscale (by Florida standards) community that has floated the idea of adding temporary seating to their polo stadium to make it as large as Montgomery's stadium to host a bowl. Charleston wants or at least wanted a game but they have the flag issue. San Marcos, Texas has made an inquiry about hosting as well.

I've said a number of times that San Marcos is an intriguing option for a small G5 bowl. It's 20 minutes from Austin and 45 minutes from San Antonio. The stadium is very nice. Get both cities involved. House one team in Austin and one in San Antonio. You could have totally different experiences based upon which city houses a squad. Thus, a team making a second trip to the bowl would almost feel like it's a new bowl. Same goes for fans visiting the bowl a second time.

I forgot Chattanooga. They've put out feelers for a bowl as well.