A couple of points:

A) Its interesting that Catlett used the line about the no BE/ACC game has been in the GBs top ten games in terms of attendnace the last four years....because WVU/Maryland five years ago drew almost 79k and is #8 all time in terms of largest crowds ever at the GB

B) WVU/Clemson is still the largest crowd ever at the GB

C) Many of the games least attended bowl games also involved the SEC, but to be fair those where when the bowl was in its infancy

Jackson

EC Inside Look: Gator Bowl creates headache for lower SEC bowls

By Jon Solomon -- The Birmingham News

October 28, 2009, 9:15AM

All eyes in the SEC are on Georgia-Florida this week in Jacksonville. Some bowl directors have been eyeing Jacksonville for months -- for a decidedly different reason.

The Gator Bowl joins the SEC bowl lineup next season. And that's created major headaches for bowls in Birmingham, Memphis and Nashville.

Adding the Gator Bowl against the Big Ten gives the SEC three New Year's Day bowls and presumably more money. It's also meant a scramble for where the Papajohns.com Bowl, Liberty Bowl and Music City Bowl fit in the SEC landscape.

"Certainly no one wants competition, especially when you're trying to negotiate with a conference as successful as the SEC," Music City Bowl President Scott Ramsey said. "But we realize our bowl isn't at the level of the Gator yet and there are certain things you can't control."

No announcements have been made yet, but the top five in the SEC bowl pecking order will likely remain the same. No. 1 (and No. 2 in some years) goes to the Bowl Championship Series, No. 2 to the Capital One, No. 3 is shared by the Outback and Cotton, and No. 5 to the Chick-fil-A.

The Gator likely slides into the No. 6 slot. That moves the Music City and Liberty down a spot and possibly keeps the Papajohns.com Bowl at No. 9.

Currently, the Music City and Liberty share the Nos. 6 and 7 picks. Under one scenario being seriously discussed, the Music City would pick No. 7 and the Liberty and Papajohns.com Bowl would share the 8 and 9 picks.

That doesn't sit well with the Liberty, which is the only SEC bowl not paired against a BCS opponent. Last year, there were no eligible SEC teams at 8 and 9 for the Independence, which is leaving after this season, and Papajohns.com bowls.

The Papajohns.com has been pushing to move up a slot. The Big East has strongly stated that playing a bowl in Birmingham makes sense if the SEC is the opponent. How the Big East feels about a shared 8/9 pick remains a question, too.

It's not clear what viable options, if any, the Liberty has if it's required to share with the Papajohns.com. Five of the Liberty's 10 most-attended games involve an SEC team, including the top three.

The danger of leaving the SEC is you never know if you'll return. Just ask the Gator, which had at least one SEC team in 28 of its first 49 years before parting with the SEC after the 1994 season.

To this day, 10 of the top 20 attended Gator Bowls have involved current SEC schools, including three of the top four. None of the past four games, involving the ACC against the Big East or Big 12, cracked the top 20 attendance in Gator Bowl history

"The Big East is not the conference it was before expansion," Gator Bowl President Rick Catlett said. "There are some really good teams playing at a really high level, but without the national recognition. We needed to have those types of national programs now. It's great to be back to our roots and where we should have been all along."

Even if the Gator has the sixth SEC pick -- compared to ACC No. 3 and Big East No. 2 -- Catlett said the move is worth it because No. 6 would have been South Carolina, Alabama and Kentucky in the past three years.

Meanwhile, lower-tiered SEC bowls are left scrambling. But such is life in the bowl business.

"Obviously keeping the bowl business strong and intact is very important to all the bowl directors, and we have relationships with them," Catlett said. "But at the end of the day, we do run an independent business and we have to do what's best for us."

Join the conversation by commenting below or e-mail Jon at jsolomon@bhamnews.com.

So if anyone in the Big East needed any reminders that the Gator bowl will do anything possible to get ND instead of a BE team this year, this story should make it extremelly clear.

Let them enjoy their match ups with the SC, and Kentucky's. Yes theyll get more fans in the stands because of proximity but theyll get hammer in the TV ratings and the importance of their games

(10-29-2009 11:31 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  So if anyone in the Big East needed any reminders that the Gator bowl will do anything possible to get ND instead of a BE team this year, this story should make it extremelly clear.

Let them enjoy their match ups with the SC, and Kentucky's. Yes theyll get more fans in the stands because of proximity but theyll get hammer in the TV ratings and the importance of their games

Once they get hammered in the tv ratings, the progression will be that the networks will not be interested in increasing their payouts.

I saw that earlier today.

I'm glad the BE is finally rid of Catlett. I wonder if he will criticize the SEC or Big 10 if ticket sales are 'bad' or for 'low attendance' like the way he's criticized the BE.

Good luck with the SEC #7 vs. Big 10 #5/#6 (when both conferences get 2 BCS teams).

The BE will be appreciated in Orlando!

Screw th e Gator Bowl! Cincy took about 30,000 to the Orange Bowl where we were treated like royalty! VA Tech brought about 7k

They are gone, let them go. Jacksonville is an SEC town, that will draw there.

I wish the Gator Bowl luck with their newfound obscurity. They've just rendered themselves irrelevant, and are now congratulating themselves for their ignorance. The BEast doesn't need them, especially if they don't respect us. The BEast is far better than they realize, and the fanbase is starting to grow. The stupidity of their decision will come back to haunt them sooner than they think...

(10-29-2009 11:31 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Let them enjoy their match ups with the SC, and Kentucky's. Yes theyll get more fans in the stands because of proximity but theyll get hammer in the TV ratings and the importance of their games

Couple of questions....why do you think they'll get hammered in the TV ratings? People are going to watch the SEC teams no matter what bowls they are in...I don't see how you draw that conclusion. Their lowest rating for a bowl game last year was the 2.7 Liberty bowl at 4:30 on Friday Jan 2nd...perhaps the worst time and date possible...and still a higher rating than almost half of the other bowls. They'll bring the fans AND the viewers. I don't care for the SEC, but I don't see how you can think one of their teams could hurt a bowl game in any way.

Secondly, what do you mean by "importance of their games?"

What else can the Gator boys say? DOn't forget the Yankee bowl is paying the BE $2 million and that certainly regionalizes some bowls. IF you read between the lines of what the Yankee Bowl people are saying, this is intended to be the powerful northeastern bowl for a northeastern conference.

The BE certainly did not and cannot upgrade the rank of the team we'll send to the Gator. The Yankee Bowl is already a bigger priority for the BE and probably needs our top non-BCS team.

I think we sort of turned our backs on the gator before they turned their backs on us. I'm sure USF would be a big draw to the Gator-

I think the Yankee Bowl taking our #4 pushes the Gator further out of the BE picture anyway and further down the pecking order. The Yankee Bowl is already a higher priority for the BE though the Gator has been around for years.. The Yankee bowl also has dibbs on ND and I think the plan is that the Bronx payout will be better for ND than a Gator payout. (that's the plan) So who's playing in the Gator? -- nobody-- really.

I hope our southern parthers understand that we need college football to catch in the northeast. We're making steps in the right direction and let's see how this plays out- it's never easy.

Gator claims that the #6 from the SEC is better than #2 from the BE. What choice do they have? The Yankee Bowl wants the #2 from the BE - really they do. They'll probably try to get the #1 (BCS) down the road. #4 doesn't fit in their plans for long.

(10-29-2009 01:02 PM)swash Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 11:31 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Let them enjoy their match ups with the SC, and Kentucky's. Yes theyll get more fans in the stands because of proximity but theyll get hammer in the TV ratings and the importance of their games

Couple of questions....why do you think they'll get hammered in the TV ratings? People are going to watch the SEC teams no matter what bowls they are in...I don't see how you draw that conclusion. Their lowest rating for a bowl game last year was the 2.7 Liberty bowl at 4:30 on Friday Jan 2nd...perhaps the worst time and date possible...and still a higher rating than almost half of the other bowls. They'll bring the fans AND the viewers. I don't care for the SEC, but I don't see how you can think one of their teams could hurt a bowl game in any way.

Secondly, what do you mean by "importance of their games?"

The Gator will be fine. So will the Big East. People saying the Gator Bowl will suffer are just trying to make themselves feel better after getting jilted.

(10-29-2009 01:34 PM)frogman Wrote:  I think the Yankee Bowl taking our #3 pushes the Gator further out of the BE picture anyway and further down the pecking order. The Yankee Bowl is already a higher priority for the BE though the Gator has been around for years.. The Yankee bowl also has dibbs on ND and I think the plan is that the Bronx payout will be better for ND than a Florida payout.So who's playing int he Gator? -- nobody-- really.

Right now the Yankee is #4, behind our BCS bowl, Champs Sports, and Meineke. It will likely be #3 the year that the Champs selects ND.

(10-29-2009 01:41 PM)MichaelSavage Wrote:  The Gator will be fine. So will the Big East. People saying the Gator Bowl will suffer are just trying to make themselves feel better after getting jilted.

Correct - it's not a zero sum game. Everyone is better off even if there's some lingering animosity. The Gator Bowl is better off (if you think that the ratings are going to be bad for an SEC/Big Ten matchup, even a lower tier one, then you obviously haven't looked at any historic bowl ratings data that points to the complete opposite) and the Big East is better off (guaranteed 3 out of 4 years in Orlando is better than 2 out of 4 split between the Gator and Sun).

(10-29-2009 01:44 PM)mattsarz Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:34 PM)frogman Wrote:  I think the Yankee Bowl taking our #3 pushes the Gator further out of the BE picture anyway and further down the pecking order. The Yankee Bowl is already a higher priority for the BE though the Gator has been around for years.. The Yankee bowl also has dibbs on ND and I think the plan is that the Bronx payout will be better for ND than a Florida payout.So who's playing int he Gator? -- nobody-- really.

Right now the Yankee is #4, behind our BCS bowl, Champs Sports, and Meineke. It will likely be #3 the year that the Champs selects ND.

Yea I caught that. But our top four have a place to go with #4 collecting $2 million. We only have 8 teams. Who can complain. Meineke payed out $1 million last year. CHamps paid out $2,250,000. Yankee will pay out $2 million in 2010. What's wrong with this picture?

(10-29-2009 01:58 PM)frogman Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:44 PM)mattsarz Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:34 PM)frogman Wrote:  I think the Yankee Bowl taking our #3 pushes the Gator further out of the BE picture anyway and further down the pecking order. The Yankee Bowl is already a higher priority for the BE though the Gator has been around for years.. The Yankee bowl also has dibbs on ND and I think the plan is that the Bronx payout will be better for ND than a Florida payout.So who's playing int he Gator? -- nobody-- really.

Right now the Yankee is #4, behind our BCS bowl, Champs Sports, and Meineke. It will likely be #3 the year that the Champs selects ND.

Yea I caught that. But our top four have a place to go with #4 collecting $2 million. We only have 8 teams. Who can complain. Meineke payed out $1 million last year. CHamps paid out $2,250,000.

Actually, the Meineke paid out more than $1.3 million last year, but your point still stands.

(10-29-2009 02:14 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:58 PM)frogman Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:44 PM)mattsarz Wrote:  

(10-29-2009 01:34 PM)frogman Wrote:  I think the Yankee Bowl taking our #3 pushes the Gator further out of the BE picture anyway and further down the pecking order. The Yankee Bowl is already a higher priority for the BE though the Gator has been around for years.. The Yankee bowl also has dibbs on ND and I think the plan is that the Bronx payout will be better for ND than a Florida payout.So who's playing int he Gator? -- nobody-- really.

Right now the Yankee is #4, behind our BCS bowl, Champs Sports, and Meineke. It will likely be #3 the year that the Champs selects ND.

Yea I caught that. But our top four have a place to go with #4 collecting $2 million. We only have 8 teams. Who can complain. Meineke payed out $1 million last year. CHamps paid out $2,250,000.

Actually, the Meineke paid out more than $1.3 million last year, but your point still stands.

Gator paid $2.5 million- so I guess we should sorta miss them.

Tell me again how not being invloved with them anymore is a negative for the BE? The Gator has never once avoided publicly dininishing the BE, WHO IS EVEN STILL UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEM THIS YEAR!

The pizza sharing with liberty would be a nice upgrade. Remember its now the BE5 slot! Would probably get sec 2 yrs out of 4. If true, it supports notion sec wants to avoid non bcs matchups at all possible. Oh well.

I'd like to see the Gator not be able to invite ND, and then have The BEast representative decline the invite...

Actually MichaelSavage, the ones sounding like jilted lovers is the Gator Bowl. Funny how you ignored the fact that Catlett basically lied and said that we didn't have anyone in the Top 10 in attendance. We weren't the ones taking shots at the Gator Bowl it was vice versa.

(10-29-2009 03:22 PM)CatsClaw Wrote:  Actually MichaelSavage, the ones sounding like jilted lovers is the Gator Bowl. Funny how you ignored the fact that Catlett basically lied and said that we didn't have anyone in the Top 10 in attendance. We weren't the ones taking shots at the Gator Bowl it was vice versa.

The Gator Bowl isn't the one sounding like a jilted lover. It's certain posters on here who are acting like the Gator Bowl will fail that are.

Up your's too...