I enjoyed the Boca Raton Bowl very much. It is great for my community and helps FAU. And 85 degrees and sunny on bowl week doesn't hurt.
My photos:
http://www.markeysportsphoto.com/f42557863
The event was very well planned and executed. The gameday experience was great, as was tailgating and more. Marshall (especially) and NIU brought large, enthusiastic crowds. Pre-game events were held as far north as Downtown West Palm Beach to Downtown Boca Raton, involving all of the Palm Beaches (a metro area of 2 million-plus people). The local media supported the game.
I estimated the crowd at 25,000, although the game was a sellout. It was a late arriving crowd due to I-95 traffic and tailgating. I saw some people cooking and socializing under tents behind the PBCC buildings near the curve (coming from Spanish River Blvd.) 20 minutes before kickoff.
I have never seen so many lots full or so many tailgaters.
The only larger crowd (but very similar looking) was the inaugural stadium game for FAU, against WKU.
Both decks on both sidelines were essentially full. There were some holes on the upper north (NIU) side.
The FAU student end zone (south) was about two-thirds full. The closed in end zone was full on the lower deck and had decent numbers above that.
Great use was made of the lawn behind the west side of the stadium with all kinds of tents (food, bars, Christmas trees, etc.), activities, booths and attractions.
Great use was made of the video board and sound system with the Andrea Ocampo show, contests, funny videos, Dance Cam (hugely popular), etc. The FAU announcer was used and with all the red uniforms on the home side, I got confused a couple of times thinking I was at an FAU game!
The photo room and press conference rooms were packed. Extra tables has to be brought in.
I've covered and been to many bowls. This was very well presented and showed off this area very well, even with great tourism and such commercials on the video board. I liked the way the bowl involved the entire county and had events, including pep rallies and the luncheon, in West Palm Beach as well.
The only issues I noticed were the video board's failure with about 4 minutes to play (ugh) and a horribly designed trophy presentation (no riser was used, the crowd could not hear the interviews and the media was almost totally blocked by official TV and still photos crews).