(05-07-2021 02:50 PM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 12:11 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 12:00 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 11:22 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 07:21 AM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  One could assume that a quarter-final Rose Bowl would probably be good for at least 2x the meaningless version.

Not true. We know that's not the case because we have data comparing semifinal Rose Bowl games to Rose Bowl games that are just another bowl game. The semifinal Rose Bowl games draw a larger audience, but well short of twice as large.

1/1/2021 Rose Bowl, semifinal: 18.9 million viewers

1/1/2020 Rose Bowl, not a semifinal: 16.3 million viewers

1/1/2019 Rose Bowl, not a semifinal: 16.8 million viewers

1/1/2018 Rose Bowl, semifinal: 26.9 million viewers

Further, the audience size for any Rose Bowl game, semi or not, owes something to the time slot. The Rose and Sugar have the two best time slots in college football, by far, and would draw smaller audiences if you played those games as first round playoff games on the third Saturday in December instead of as bowls or semifinals on January 1st.

I'd say the Rose Bowl has a particular resonance as an event in American culture similar to the Kentucky Derby and The Masters. That's why the Big Ten and Pac-12 care about it so much - it's the one bowl game that actually MATTERS. However, I don't think any of the other bowls carry that same weight, so in the context of the overall system, it's not even a question that playoff games are worth much more than the non-semifinal NY6 bowls.

To that point, though, your point about the time slot is different. No one is moving the Rose Bowl to mid-December or the second week of January. You might see a neutral site playoff game that happens to be played in Pasadena during those times (similar to when the National Championship Game was held in Pasadena in addition to the Rose Bowl during the latter part of the BCS era), but it won't be the Rose Bowl Game itself. That specific game will be happening after the Tournament of Roses Parade.

That comparison is a big point. What happened last year when the Kentucky Derby was run in September and the Masters was played in November? The TV ratings were terrible. The audience sizes were nowhere near what they are on the first Saturday in May or the second week in April.

If a new playoff has a playoff game at the Rose Bowl on January 1st at about 2 pm PT, the ratings will be very good. Better than a non-playoff Rose Bowl, similar to the numbers above. If a new playoff has a game in Pasadena that they call "the Rose Bowl game" on the third Saturday in December... that's like playing the Masters in November. Good luck with that.

You don't think that has more to do with us becoming accustomed to watching those events around the same time every year? If the super bowl was played in July, you'd probably get the same result, despite the fact that there is nothing particularly special about the weekend that the super bowl is played on, or the first weekend in May, or whenever the Masters usually is.

To be fair, the Rose Bowl is on definitely on a special day: New Year's Day. It also follows up the Tournament of Roses Parade. Even my late grandma that immigrated from Taiwan knew of and watched the Rose Parade, so it's a whole different level of an all-encompassing all-day event for the entire population (not just sports fans) that goes beyond the game itself.