Pretty Please: Fix the Bowl System

Sounds like they might be breaking some rules/laws. You got a tape recorder?

 

I agree with this. Do you think FSUs entire starting lineup is about to get drafted in the top couple rounds?

 

Ok fellas are you ready?

No bowl games after the season except .. Playoff teams. Move that out to 16. Let that tournament fight it out and come up with the winner of the year in football.
So what do we do with the other teams who traditionally play in a bowl who didn’t make the playoffs.?
We will play those game in the month of April. Set the bowl game sites , then assign those games to those sites.Play 3-4 games a weekend . Let these teams go thru spring practice then play the Gator Bowl-or the Sun Bowl etc…. Once the teams get their bowl sites they structure their spring practice to that date. Players will be comprised of the student athletes on the current roster. Let the guys opt out if they want but if they do they are ineligible for fall. Eliminate the “spring game that has been traditional.
Now we have real competition going on. Bowl games will be filled, and opt outs will be gone.
Coaches can concentrate on recruiting during those traditional bowl games.
The play off teams will be the only game in town and the lower level bowls will be out of that slot.

 

Thank ya sir …

 

Spring practice is a big issue with timing also

 

Nah, they were just chickenshit and looking for a way out, kinda like the Covid year

 

...or, a monetary penalty for NOT participating. Like, pay 1/13th of your semester scholarship back.

 

Shorten the regular season. You can only play half your conference now anyway.

 

I will let Coach Mike Leach speak on my behalf on how to fix it.

 

Not a popular opinion, but bowl games have always been mindless money grabs. How on Earth people have tolerated such nonsense for as long as we have is Houdini-level brilliance by those that cash the checks. Blow up all the bowls, let all the playoff games be at campus sites except for the championship. As a GATOR fan, I've disliked bowl games for as long as I can remember. As a football fan, I've tried to enjoy the puzzle of figuring out motivation for bowl pools; not quite as fun as March Madness, but better than nothing.

All that said:

- I'm on board with playing the bowl games at the beginning of the next season (give out the swag to the players that "earned" the bowl game)
- Eliminate the "Bowl entities" as being relevant - seriously, they're not necessary. Play the games at a neutral site or let the schools bid to host the contest with a reasonable neutral site share of seats available to the visiting team. There's no need to preserve the actual bowls.
- If for some reason, we are set on preserving the bowl entities and playing the games at the end of the season, give the winning team 70% of the share and the losing team 30% of the share. There's your incentive.
- And most importantly, as mentioned above, only 1 playoff game should be played at a neutral site: the championship. You are NUTS if you think that the atmosphere will be better at a neutral site vs. at a team's home site. It's like this in the NFL, the worst atmosphere is always at the Super Bowl. There's no reason to screw this up for the fans. Just say "no!"

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

The transfer portal has to change for this to stop, because even playoff teams are going to get hurt by this next season.

Make scholarships a binding 3 year contract with a transfer allowance if there is a head coaching change.

If the player wants to transfer for whatever reason in year 4, go for it.

 

I hope you are right; it's a beautiful game, and it's worth celebrating. However, what I see happening is forcing things in one direction, and that is a reduction in people caring passionately about the sport. At FLORIDA, they are discouraging on-campus tailGATORing and making it harder for fans to enjoy the games (not even talking about what's going on on the field). The prices are going up, and the quality of what is witnessed on the field and what fans have come to enjoy in terms of tailGATORing is going down. I wonder if the replacement via fans watching on TV is more than enough to make up for it. We are not building a fan base right now. It would be interesting to see how the number of visiting tickets requested by SEC fans has dropped over the years, but this is certainly true even of teams visiting the SWAMP.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

source

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

It's interesting and funny how all these proposed fixes are skewed entirely just for the fans enjoyment or to benefit the schools. Isn't that thinking the reason the sport is where it is now?

 

Exactly, which is my point. Kids opt out because they care about two things: attention and money. They don't care about teammates, the school or the fans or even things like personal pride, hard work or even the sport itself. This won't be fixed because it isn't something fixable, it's what you get with this model of professional athletes playing on school sponsored teams and is a symptom of today's culture. Money and attention over everything else, little wonder why there's so much depression today, people are aiming for the wrong goals.

 

I've relayed this story before but it has been a minute.
I used to have your opinion on bowl games. They were a useless money grab unless you were playing for a championship.
My view changed when a friend of mine ended up playing football at a major university. We went and stayed at the hotel with the team when they played in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville. You had a bunch of college kids who had worked hard all season largely for fan entertainment (this was pre-NIL) who were just excited to be on a vacation in a nice place and to get a bunch of free stuff. They were in a nicer hotel on the beach and were just having a blast like college kids should. It was no different than me being a college student and being excited to go to a conference in my field that I got a bunch of free swag at in a cool location. While it didn't make me enjoy the bowl games themselves anymore, I am very content to see them continue and reward the players (particularly the ones who have no NFL future).

 

I shouldn't have said "always," but to be clear, I have zero problems with the players going there to celebrate, relax, socialize, etc. I think that's great, but that represents such a miniscule financial piece to the entire equation. Let's just say you paid $400/night for 100 players for 7 nights (would that cover meals/entertainment?). Thrown in an average cost of $500 for R/T airfare. Maybe even add some spending money. You're still well under $2 per home game for season ticket holders. I'd much rather pay that as a bonus than to be invited to buy a bowl game ticket. I do understand that some people (perhaps many people) love the actual bowl games; just not for me. I say that as somebody that has never had a problem with the NIT and enjoy going to those games when we do have them.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Interesting comment; it's probably worth making a distinction between the TV fans enjoyment and the in-game fans enjoyment. The experience of the TV fan has blown up tremendously with a ridiculous amount of viewing options for a relatively cheap price. The experience of the in-game fan has been degrading for many years now.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

The fans pay for every bit of it so it better entertain the fans or there’s no games at all.