AP: Fan apathy could be greatest threat to BCS

[TopFrog]

AP: Fan apathy could be greatest threat to BCS

By Ralph D. Russo, Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Playoff pushing lawmakers and political action committees are far from the biggest problems facing the Bowl Championship Series these days.

Apathy seems to have set in among many college football fans toward the sport's marquee games, and bowl officials indicate they are ready to try and fix it.

The problem really isn't the BCS national title game. Tickets to Monday's showdown between No. 1 Auburn and second-ranked Oregon are a hot item. It's the undercard — the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls, and to a far lesser extent the Rose Bowl — that could use a boost.

Ticket sales for some of those games have been sluggish, and ratings generally have been lukewarm for matchups that haven't gotten the casual fan excited.

"We have to find a way to revitalize the market place," Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan said. ...

 

[Opintel]

The "problem" also wasn't the Rose Bowl. Sell out crowd of over 94,000, a record TV/Cable watching number (only surpassed by NFL numbers, if I remember correctly), and the Froggie Fans spent very well). Another misleading article, with a picture of the TCU/BSU game from 2010 to further muddle the issue. Typical crappy journalism...

 

[TopFrog]

The "problem" also wasn't the Rose Bowl. Sell out crowd of over 94,000, a record TV/Cable watching number (only surpassed by NFL numbers, if I remember correctly), and the Froggie Fans spent very well). Another misleading article, with a picture of the TCU/BSU game from 2010 to further muddle the issue. Typical crappy journalism...

Yeah. not sure why Riusso lumped the RB in there.

 

[West Coast Johnny]

The whole bowl system is an antique - [ Finebaum ].

 

[SoonerFrogs]

They have systematically eliminated the "need" for the lesser bowls with the creation of the BCS championship game. I suppose the idea of money hides this fact.

 

[BrewingFrog]

What a great analysis! Tell teams and fan bases that "Your Bowl Game is utterly meaningless!" and then react with shock and dismay when nobody buys tickets.

That's Atlantic City thinking.

Explanation: Comedian says, "Marketing. There's the Las Vegas way, and there's the Atlantic City way. Vegas way is, 'Hey! C'mon out! Have some fun! Spend some money!' The Atlantic City way is, "Hey! Screw you! Give us your money!'"

The BCS is done the Atlantic City way. And they're mad that we don't like it.

I'm thinking 'Eaten by Fire Ants" is way too kind for these guys...

 

[Big Frog II]

The Fiesta and Orange screwed themselves by not switching UConn with Stanford. The matchups would have made more sense regionally, and the attendance would have been much better.

 

[ShreveFrog]

I'm not sure that more Stanford people would've gone to AZ, and more UConn would've gone to Miami. A plane trip is a plane trip.

About the recommendations being considered:

— A minimum BCS ranking for automatic qualifiers. A way to eliminate future UConn-type problems would make conference champions have to reach a certain ranking to secure a spot. That number would need to be no higher than around 18th for the conferences to even listen.

I say yes, but more like a top 15 ranking.

— Mandating geographical considerations, so teams play closer to home.

No, or we would never have gotten the Rose Bowl experience.

— Making more teams at-large eligible, which could require lifting the rule that limits conferences to no more than two BCS bids. So an 11th-ranked, two-loss LSU could still make it to a big-money bowl.

Yes.

— Allow for more horsetrading. The system doesn't allow much (if any) flexibility for the bowls to broker deals to trade teams.

Unsure, but I lean no. See response #2 above.