That small stadium is 80 to 85% empty, which isn't WKU or CMU's fault. It looks worse than the International Bowl that was in Toronto.

No fans, no bands, no dance teams, no cheerleaders. Too expensive all around.

(12-24-2014 12:40 PM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  No fans, no bands, no dance teams, no cheerleaders. Too expensive all around.

The locals don't even care. Toronto was better attended than this.

It's a TV show. They don't need fans any more than most TV shows need studio audiences. Popeyes, ESPN and the Bahamas Tourist Board see it as a 3 hour advertisement. The game itself is irrelevant. Probably get decent ratings: only game on.

(12-24-2014 12:33 PM)utpotts Wrote:  That small stadium is 80 to 85% empty, which isn't WKU or CMU's fault. It looks worse than the International Bowl that was in Toronto.

Agree, looks like zero local support. 15k stadium too. No way it lasts past the 6 year contract. In the mean time the kids can enjoy a fun bowl destination.

The date needs to be later. Need more time to set up travel. Not sure why they don't have a cruise package set up. Fans from both schools on a 4 day trip with a tailgate before the game. That could help get more people there. Btw CMU is getting their butts kicked!

They should switch dates with the GoDaddy Bowl if possible.

My goodness, those university promos are all so, so bad. And generic: so, so much alike.

(12-24-2014 12:44 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:40 PM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  No fans, no bands, no dance teams, no cheerleaders. Too expensive all around.

The locals don't even care. Toronto was better attended than this.

Yep, Toronto was very convenient to the MAC and Big East schools. And there's a foothold of "American football" interest there. Neither of which is found in Nassau.

The players and coaching staffs get a top-notch vacation destination out of it. So there's that. But nothing about the Bahamas gives off a football (not futbol) vibe.

Maybe with the diplomatic relations with Cuba now, they can resurrect the old Bacardi Bowl.

(12-24-2014 01:59 PM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:44 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:40 PM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  No fans, no bands, no dance teams, no cheerleaders. Too expensive all around.

The locals don't even care. Toronto was better attended than this.

Yep, Toronto was very convenient to the MAC and Big East schools. And there's a foothold of "American football" interest there. Neither of which is found in Nassau.

The players and coaching staffs get a top-notch vacation destination out of it. So there's that. But nothing about the Bahamas gives off a football (not futbol) vibe.

Maybe with the diplomatic relations with Cuba now, they can resurrect the old Bacardi Bowl.

I don't rum so.

(12-24-2014 01:25 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  They should switch dates with the GoDaddy Bowl if possible.

Go Daddy will never give up its current slot. They base their entire bowl experience off of the Mardi Gras parade and other festivities, and those festivities always occur in January.

(12-24-2014 01:59 PM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:44 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:40 PM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  No fans, no bands, no dance teams, no cheerleaders. Too expensive all around.

The locals don't even care. Toronto was better attended than this.

Yep, Toronto was very convenient to the MAC and Big East schools. And there's a foothold of "American football" interest there. Neither of which is found in Nassau.

The players and coaching staffs get a top-notch vacation destination out of it. So there's that. But nothing about the Bahamas gives off a football (not futbol) vibe.

Maybe with the diplomatic relations with Cuba now, they can resurrect the old Bacardi Bowl.

I went to one of the International Bowls and it was a lot of fun and the post New Years time frame was great.

(12-24-2014 01:01 PM)SApuro Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:33 PM)utpotts Wrote:  That small stadium is 80 to 85% empty, which isn't WKU or CMU's fault. It looks worse than the International Bowl that was in Toronto.

Agree, looks like zero local support. 15k stadium too. No way it lasts past the 6 year contract. In the mean time the kids can enjoy a fun bowl destination.

There's no telling whether or not local support will grow ... but even if it does, its only a bonus. And the fans of the teams that visit to support the team are also only a bonus.

As a Bahamas tourist board advertisement, its marginally better for the Bahamas to have it on earlier in the Holiday season than later, but what matters is that its the only college FB on in its time slot and it gets watched in the cold-weather states in the eastern part of the US. Getting the cost of the 3hr advertisement defrayed by having another sponsor seals the deal.

With a six year deal, they have plenty of time to find ways to boost both local and visiting support, to put on a better show. But the viability of the bowl doesn't depend on it.

(12-24-2014 07:31 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 01:01 PM)SApuro Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:33 PM)utpotts Wrote:  That small stadium is 80 to 85% empty, which isn't WKU or CMU's fault. It looks worse than the International Bowl that was in Toronto.

Agree, looks like zero local support. 15k stadium too. No way it lasts past the 6 year contract. In the mean time the kids can enjoy a fun bowl destination.

There's no telling whether or not local support will grow ... but even if it does, its only a bonus. And the fans of the teams that visit to support the team are also only a bonus.

As a Bahamas tourist board advertisement, its marginally better for the Bahamas to have it on earlier in the Holiday season than later, but what matters is that its the only college FB on in its time slot and it gets watched in the cold-weather states in the eastern part of the US. Getting the cost of the 3hr advertisement defrayed by having another sponsor seals the deal.

With a six year deal, they have plenty of time to find ways to boost both local and visiting support, to put on a better show. But the viability of the bowl doesn't depend on it.

I don't know who ponies up which (and how many) bucks to make this bowl work, but ESPN wants it, the Bahamas wants it (their tourism board can chip in bucks), college conferences want it, etc.

I want to go the Bahamas December 24, 2015...

(12-24-2014 02:31 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 01:25 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  They should switch dates with the GoDaddy Bowl if possible.

Go Daddy will never give up its current slot. They base their entire bowl experience off of the Mardi Gras parade and other festivities, and those festivities always occur in January.

They might not want to give up the date, but I don't think it would have anything to do with the Mardi Gras Parade or other festivities. They had that parade and all the festivities when Toledo played there in December in 2005.

The only way that game has any chance at all is if it is moved to a weekend, say the 2nd Sat in January. The only game scheduled that day is the FCS title game, yep it's late in the bowl season but games that require long distance travel and plane flights need to be on a weekend to draw any crowd and that weekend is pretty much empty of college football now.

The USATODAY article talks about how Conference USA pays for this bowl. If they give up on the bowl then one of their teams doesnt go either.

Its the first year for it, let em figure it out first.

And, its a 15k stadium.

(12-25-2014 12:05 PM)Policiious Wrote:  The only way that game has any chance at all ... ... games that require long distance travel and plane flights need to be on a weekend to draw any crowd ...

Again, the premise is that it needs to draw a substantially larger crowd in order to avoid shutting down, but if the Bahamas tourism board is willing to pay for the 3hr ad on ESPN, then its not the same business model as a traditional bowl game, which relied on ticket sales.

And I believe that its quite reasonable to expect local attendance at the game to grow over the next few years. The Bahamas may not be part of the Eastern Caribbean proper, but Bahamians are still West Indians, and I expect that as the bowl is repeated, over time more people will work it into their regular holiday schedule.

(12-26-2014 01:52 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(12-25-2014 12:05 PM)Policiious Wrote:  The only way that game has any chance at all ... ... games that require long distance travel and plane flights need to be on a weekend to draw any crowd ...

Again, the premise is that it needs to draw a substantially larger crowd in order to avoid shutting down, but if the Bahamas tourism board is willing to pay for the 3hr ad on ESPN, then its not the same business model as a traditional bowl game, which relied on ticket sales.

And I believe that its quite reasonable to expect local attendance at the game to grow over the next few years. The Bahamas may not be part of the Eastern Caribbean proper, but Bahamians are still West Indians, and I expect that as the bowl is repeated, over time more people will work it into their regular holiday schedule.

One thing about this bowl:

Is the stadium like 15K? It is small!!!

So that means that attendance should never be a factor. The revenue from tickets will always be small.

Doesn't that mean, one team 'buys' 5K tickets, the other team 'buys' 5K tickets. Those sums are deducted from the guarantees to each school.

One or two thousand from the island buy tickets.

This isn't Ford Field where they really need 30K+.

The game is a net money loser but the MAC and C-USA cover their schools.

What the MAC wants is a LOT of bowl games esp. in places like the Bahamas, Southern Florida, etc.

(12-26-2014 04:24 AM)emu steve Wrote:  One thing about this bowl:

Is the stadium like 15K? It is small!!!

So that means that attendance should never be a factor. The revenue from tickets will always be small.

Attendance is primarily about what the pictures look like on TV.

Quote: Doesn't that mean, one team 'buys' 5K tickets, the other team 'buys' 5K tickets. Those sums are deducted from the guarantees to each school.

One or two thousand from the island buy tickets.

Local support could well be built to greater than that. This is a population who has to be sold on the idea of going to an American football game as a once-a-year special event ... which means that taking the first year local attendance as a strong prediction of what it will be over the longer term is really quite shaky.

Quote: This isn't Ford Field where they really need 30K+.

The game is a net money loser but the MAC and C-USA cover their schools.

What the MAC wants is a LOT of bowl games esp. in places like the Bahamas, Southern Florida, etc.

As far as the MAC, its part of a massive upgrade on just a few years ago when the bowl games that MAC coaches could point to in recruiting were in Detroit, Michigan and in Boise, Idaho.