(11-17-2016 09:09 PM)BruceMcF Wrote: (11-17-2016 07:53 AM)quo vadis Wrote: About the only example of a true home field advantage one team consistently and historically has had in bowl games is ... USC in the Rose Bowl vs B1G teams.
The "true home field advantage" point is true as far as it goes, which in this context is not very far. It is hoping for an unstated false dichotomy fallacy, in which not being a "true home field" implies that it is therefore a "true neutral field". But the excluded middle is where many bowl games end up being played: it is also quite often not a "true neutral field" either, but somewhere in between.
So the "true home field" formula is mostly a way of ducking the implications of the straightforward point that the SEC has a strong tendency to play most of it's bowl games somewhere in SEC country. While it's not always in easy driving distance for most of the "home" supporters of an SEC team in an SEC bowl, it is the case often enough to tilt the average SEC bowl from being a "true neutral field" game.
The bowls are supposed to make fans of both schools purchase expensive rooms, eat expensive food, and spend lots of money for the local chamber of commerce. They were never designed to be "neutral". They were located in the South for a warmer, hopefully more enjoyable vacation for everyone from the North and South during the New Year. Everything that has developed since has been for the same commercial purposes.
This whole speculation is way overblown. Fans don't matter so much as officials. As long as those are neutral everybody else has to strap on their jockstraps one leg at a time. It's as fair as it gets once the premise is understood. Besides for decades bowl games didn't really count as anything but an exhibition.
Like real estate it's location, location, location. IMO, that's why the Cherry Bowl never really made it in Pontiac. The Pinstripe Bowl at least is serving a city where if only a fraction of the population is interested then it's a success.
As for our family we 10 times preferred the Tangerine and then Citrus over the Outback if we had to head to a mid-level bowl. Orlando just had so much more to offer on the way down and then when you were there.
IMO, and not because of Disney, it is the best destination bowl in Florida. Miami is interesting but has some really rough neighborhoods. Jacksonville is a nice bowl for two local teams if you stay in Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, or St. Augustine. Heck, staying at Jekyll Island and driving down is preferable to actually staying in Jacksonville. And Tampa / St. Pete just doesn't do it for me, and I'm a geezer.
As far as the Peach Bowl is concerned if Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn, or Tennessee play in it it is a home game. It's an hour and half from Auburn, a little less than an hour from Athens, two and half hours from Knoxville, and a couple of hours from Columbia. But truly it would be a home game for Georgia Tech, Clemson, or Florida State as well. And quite frankly I'm glad we can drive there and back easily in a day because there's nothing in Atlanta I care to stick around for other than the High Museum and the Georgia Aquarium.
New Orleans never gets old, but a couple of days there is all you need.
Nashville, Memphis, and Birmingham? Meh! Unless you love Elvis or Country Music or ........ well I'm still thinking about Birmingham.