Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Jan 1st used to decide the national championship

the #4 team in the polls usually had an outside chance with a couple upsets and a big win

I started watching a couple games yesterday and ended up channel surfing instead.  I'm glad these players get a reward for having a decent season but these bowl games are really struggling for attention and viewership and relevance.

None of that is new of course.  The posts here are reflective of the low level of interest even among rather ardent fans.

Then we get to NYD and there often are 2-3 games at the same time one would wish to watch.

On one hand Bowls like the New Orleans or New Mexico showcase teams I otherwise don't watch, like Marshall, but on the other hand it's hard to get up for match ups between teams who often open the season (or wait until November if Vs the SEC) getting paid to get blown out by the Helmets.
I've heard from schools that from a logistical standpoint it's easier to schedule transportation for these earlier bowls because they occur right as the semester ends, before the band, players, broadcasters, etc can go home then have to be reassembled in late December.

The ratings are OK for what they are, and oddly enough they do get concentrated attention from the gambling and Bowl Pick'em crowds.

I've been to a few of these Boutique-y pre-Christmas bowls before and I've noticed that with the right market and after about 5 years of local traction they start working working pretty well from a community standpoint. The local Casino Resorts start teaming up with the bowl committees to offer bowl weekend specials, a mini parade will get organized downtown, charities and boy scout type groups will run fundraisers in the tailgate area, etc.

Yes the '03 game was on a Friday Night.That ensures people who have to work in the ETZ can do so.Just too damn hard to do during a work week

Is that last part a reference to attending or warching? 

football every night this week

gonna be a good week!

Tuesday and Thursday don't do much for me.  I'm interested in seeing Lane's crew, but I can't imagine Akron keeping that remotely close.

I definitely want to do a Vegas Bowl someday; Vegas is at its cheapest this time of year, save New Year's Eve. But will wait until that new stadium is built closer to the Strip. I've been to that Sam Boyd Stadium before, where UNLV plays, and it's way out of the way and in the last of its nine rusty lives.

My guess is that when they move the LV Bowl closer to the Strip they will also upgrade the Bowl.  It will be interesting to see how that works though because my assumption is that the Casinos don't need additional people for NYE/NYD.  Thus, they are probably going to want to stage a major bowl right around Christmas (about a week before NYE/NYD).  We'll see how that works out.  

I was in Vegas once when the Vegas Bowl was going on.

Took me a minute to figure out why there was so many Boise fans on the strip.