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Will Bowls be Dead in 2024?

I think the non Power conferences will eventually have their own play-off.

I'd like to see the P4 go to this.
8 conference championship teams make playoff.
4 winners get the byes.
Week after, next 8 play the following week for the remaining at large spots.
 
Even with 12 team playoff, hope bowls will always be a December staple. I can take or leave most games up to the Christmas holiday, but have really enjoyed binge watching 2-3 bowl games a day the last week.

But I feel like the college football powers-to-be need to start from scratch on the schedule/recruiting calendar and not be too stuck on tradition. A couple weeks ago the 365Sports.com guys took a stab at some changes and I felt they did a good job of touching on the core issues. One of their big pushes was college football needs to build a stronger presence on December Saturdays. CFB shouldn't just give those weekends to the NFL.

I would have the following suggestions/thoughts:
  • Football Game Calendar
    • Should all teams start their games earlier, opening their season in what is now considered Week 0 in late August? This would allow teams to have 1 bye week and finish the weekend before Thanksgiving. This could help with 12 team playoff calendar.
    • Keep the existing 14 week calendar, week 0 last August weekend and week 14 Thanksgiving weekend, but give every team 2 bye weeks.
  • HS Recruit Signing Dates
    • The 365Sports guys proposed eliminating the early (December) signing date and go back to a single early February signing date.
    • Their other option would be to move the early HS recruit signing date up to late July. That gets recruiting done for coaches and HS athletes before fall camps start. Obviously, there would still be a late (Feb) signing date. Plus players could get out of LOI's if coaching change.
    • I would suggest getting rid of signing "dates" entirely. A HS recruit can sign any time after June 1 of their Junior year.
  • Portal Open/Close Dates
    • Have portal open after bowl season ends on January 1, hopefully reducing # of players who sit-out bowl games. It would create a pretty tight window before spring classes begin. But if players enroll one week after start of spring semester, I don't feel that puts them too far behind the 8-ball academically. And for most coaching staffs there wouldn't be any conflict with game prep.
  • Postseason Calendar
    • IMO the current 12 team playoff calendar for 2024 & 25 seasonsis horrible!
      • The first round games are Fri/Sat around Dec 20.
      • The quarter final round would be NY Eve & Day
      • The semifinal round would be Thu/Fri around January 10
      • Championship game would be Monday night around January 20
    • Not a fan of an off week between CCG's and start of playoffs. I understand they want to give spotlight to Army/Navy game. But to push back CFP start is too much.
    • I absolutely hate CFB season extending to Jan 20. I already feel the Jan 10ish date is anticlimatic. In part because I have already moved on to College Hoops.
    • I understand the fan interest in Conference Championship Games, but can't Conferences decide their champ based on their 8 or 9 game regular season? That worked for decades in deciding which Big12, Big10, SEC, etc. regular season champ got the NY Day Bowl berth. If a CCG is necessary, have every conference play an 8 game fixed schedule and have the 9th game flexed and serve as a CCG for 2 teams. Play CCG games Thu, Fri & Sat night. All other conference games during day.

  • I would propose the following CFB Calendar:
    • National Championship Game is played night of Jan 1. That is the starting point for setting schedule each year.
    • Bulk of Bowl games between Christmas & New Year Day
    • Semi Final Round Fri & Sat night before Christmas
    • Quarter Final Round 1 week before semi-final round Fri (1)/ Sat (3)
    • CFP First Round on campus games 1 week before Quarter Finals
    • Army vs. Navy game on Thursday night before CFP First Round
    • CCG's week before CFP First Round 1
    • Regular season is 13 weeks long with every team getting 1 bye week.
 
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Army-Navy should be a Monday Night Football produced and broadcasted game, IMO. I think you could get the NFL and ABC/ESPN behind that as an annual, special event. The first round playoff games could still be at the end of that week.
 
FriendlySpartan said:
Talked about on the cfb thread but no one who starts and contributes has ever really sat out a playoff game. That’s where a lot of these guys cement or improve their draft stock, they only sit out bowls because they don’t mean anything to those going to the NFL.
Click to expand...
Draft stock isn’t changing much based on one or two games for guys that have already played a P5 schedule. There’s initial overreaction, but by the time the draft rolls around those are just a data point in a sea of evaluation information.

As was pointed out in the same thread, the two guys pointed out right after the playoff they thought would get a big bump in their draft stock the most, Bennet and C. Smith, actually did not.

Before the playoff Bennet was an early day 3 in mocks, and he went early day 3. Smith was a late 2/ early 3 in mocks before the playoff. He ended up going in the 5th.

In the end it’s just 1-2 more games among lots of film, the combine, etc. There are already tons of guys opting out against P5 opponents in other bowls.

Much like all the other bowls once it becomes “acceptable” to opt out of playoffs, guys will start doing it. There used to be pressure to play in minor bowls. Once guys opted out and there wasn’t blowback, the floodgates opened. There was pressure to play in all the NY6. Now that’s gone. There are going to start being opt outs of playoffs. Maybe not a mass exodus, but it might only take a key opt out or two to make the playoffs a joke.
 
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Kinch said:
How does playing in a playoff game enhance your draft status a lot more than a bowl game and not carry the risks that a bowl game has. Using the same logic, why wouldn’t a no. 1 pick in the draft opt out of a playoff game for a 12th seeded team?
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It doesn’t much. It’s just the rationale people tell themselves to think players won’t start opting out of the playoff. It’s just a matter of time. The first guys that do it will probably take some crap, but eventually it will be accepted.
 
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Mr Janny said:
This. Bowls are mostly meaningless exhibitions that some players will prefer to opt out of, and they're also fun rewards for a good season that some players will look forward to playing in. They still get very good ratings. Sponsors make money. Why are we so convinced that things are broken with them?
Click to expand...
I have not seen viewership, but I think it takes a while for people to catch on how many of these are gutted rosters. I also wonder what the ad costs are vs a regular season game. Ultimately people need to watch at fairly decent numbers. Maybe that’s still happening and will continue. I used to watch every minute of every bowl I could. Now other than ISU I watched zero.
 
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Die4Cy said:
Army-Navy should be a Monday Night Football produced and broadcasted game, IMO. I think you could get the NFL and ABC/ESPN behind that as an annual, special event. The first round playoff games could still be at the end of that week.
Click to expand...
With them being in the same conference now, I would have Army-Navy be the only Week 0 game. Open the season with it every year so it can count in the conference standings.
 
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AppleCornCy said:
With them being in the same conference now, I would have Army-Navy be the only Week 0 game. Open the season with it every year so it can’t count in the conference standings.
Click to expand...

It will continue to be a non-conference game, according to the AAC and Army.
 
Employment era is coming, and that will help

The NCAA or whatever entity replaces it can provide insurance to to cover injury risk
 
isucy86 said:
Even with 12 team playoff, hope bowls will always be a December staple. I can take or leave most games up to the Christmas holiday, but have really enjoyed binge watching 2-3 bowl games a day the last week.

But I feel like the college football powers-to-be need to start from scratch on the schedule/recruiting calendar and not be too stuck on tradition. A couple weeks ago the 365Sports.com guys took a stab at some changes and I felt they did a good job of touching on the core issues. One of their big pushes was college football needs to build a stronger presence on December Saturdays. CFB shouldn't just give those weekends to the NFL.

I would have the following suggestions/thoughts:
  • Football Game Calendar
    • Should all teams start their games earlier, opening their season in what is now considered Week 0 in late August? This would allow teams to have 1 bye week and finish the weekend before Thanksgiving. This could help with 12 team playoff calendar.
    • Keep the existing 14 week calendar, week 0 last August weekend and week 14 Thanksgiving weekend, but give every team 2 bye weeks.
  • HS Recruit Signing Dates
    • The 365Sports guys proposed eliminating the early (December) signing date and go back to a single early February signing date.
    • Their other option would be to move the early HS recruit signing date up to late July. That gets recruiting done for coaches and HS athletes before fall camps start. Obviously, there would still be a late (Feb) signing date. Plus players could get out of LOI's if coaching change.
    • I would suggest getting rid of signing "dates" entirely. A HS recruit can sign any time after June 1 of their Junior year.
  • Portal Open/Close Dates
    • Have portal open after bowl season ends on January 1, hopefully reducing # of players who sit-out bowl games. It would create a pretty tight window before spring classes begin. But if players enroll one week after start of spring semester, I don't feel that puts them too far behind the 8-ball academically. And for most coaching staffs there wouldn't be any conflict with game prep.
  • Postseason Calendar
    • IMO the current 12 team playoff calendar for 2024 & 25 seasonsis horrible!
      • The first round games are Fri/Sat around Dec 20.
      • The quarter final round would be NY Eve & Day
      • The semifinal round would be Thu/Fri around January 10
      • Championship game would be Monday night around January 20
    • Not a fan of an off week between CCG's and start of playoffs. I understand they want to give spotlight to Army/Navy game. But to push back CFP start is too much.
    • I absolutely hate CFB season extending to Jan 20. I already feel the Jan 10ish date is anticlimatic. In part because I have already moved on to College Hoops.
    • I understand the fan interest in Conference Championship Games, but can't Conferences decide their champ based on their 8 or 9 game regular season? That worked for decades in deciding which Big12, Big10, SEC, etc. regular season champ got the NY Day Bowl berth. If a CCG is necessary, have every conference play an 8 game fixed schedule and have the 9th game flexed and serve as a CCG for 2 teams. Play CCG games Thu, Fri & Sat night. All other conference games during day.

  • I would propose the following CFB Calendar:
    • National Championship Game is played night of Jan 1. That is the starting point for setting schedule each year.
    • Bulk of Bowl games between Christmas & New Year Day
    • Semi Final Round Fri & Sat night before Christmas
    • Quarter Final Round 1 week before semi-final round Fri (1)/ Sat (3)
    • CFP First Round on campus games 1 week before Quarter Finals
    • Army vs. Navy game on Thursday night before CFP First Round
    • CCG's week before CFP First Round 1
    • Regular season is 13 weeks long with every team getting 1 bye week.
Click to expand...
 

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AuH2O said:
I have not seen viewership, but I think it takes a while for people to catch on how many of these are gutted rosters. I also wonder what the ad costs are vs a regular season game. Ultimately people need to watch at fairly decent numbers. Maybe that’s still happening and will continue. I used to watch every minute of every bowl I could. Now other than ISU I watched zero.
Click to expand...

I've still had bowls on because football but gone are the days of 'that should be a fun match up' since it's one or both teams without the key guys that make it a fun match up.
 
madguy30 said:
I've still had bowls on because football but gone are the days of 'that should be a fun match up' since it's one or both teams without the key guys that make it a fun match up.
Click to expand...
To me it’s just random guys wearing familiar uniforms in a lot of these games.
 
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For the record, even the ugliness that was the Georgia/FSU beat down saw a 20% increase in viewership over last year's Orange Bowl, and the highest ratings in 6 years.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Over 10 million for Georgia's 60-point rout of FSU

Georgia's 60-point Orange Bowl rout of Florida State still delivered the game's largest TV audience (excluding playoff years) since 2017.
www.sportsmediawatch.com www.sportsmediawatch.com

These bowl games are still a good draw for eyeballs. The ad money will be there as long as that's the case.
 
Mr Janny said:
This. If you are waiting for the NFL to volunteer to lower their eligibility requirement, you're going to be waiting a long time. Just ask Maurice Clarett
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That's why I think a league like the new UFL has a chance. The NFL can put guys in that league, give them NFL type training and structure, and have a crop of replacement players ready. The NFL is in serious need of QB development and the UFL could be that league.
 
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BigJCy said:
I know it probably won't happen but in 2 years I hope they get rid of all the bowl tie-ins and they just have like some type of Draft system.
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All of the conference rights to these bowl games are up then, so who really knows how it'll look.
 
Die4Cy said:
Just wait until the NFL lowers the eligibility threshold by another year to years out of high school. They will have an interest in countering NIL at some point. Getting the superstars before they are superstars in college would help.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a great way to get someone killed. Line up a kid who had to ask permission to take a piss 4 months before across from Aaron Donald
 
People nowadays keep saying they hate bowl games because they don't mean anything. I'm sorry to break it to you, but they've never "meant anything". They've always been rewards for teams that had a decent season and a byproduct of advertisers and media companies wanting to get a little extra cash. That's no different today than it was in 1980. The only thing that has changed in that regard is people are often times taking out their frustration of all the changes in the sport and applying it towards anything possible.

Now, I will admit that the so-called "prestige" of winning one of the big bowls may not seem as important or it gets frustrating to see players starting to sit out those games. But tell the ISU fans, coaches, and players of a couple years ago that the Fiesta Bowl win was meaningless. In many ways, it was - just like it was in 1990. But it demonstrated a new milestone for our program and none of us would give it away.

I will never stop watching them because any college football is better than no football.
 
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