I ask this because I don't know. Does the attractiveness of the matchup affect TV revenue for a bowl game, or is that negotiated far in advance?
If not, it might impact future negotiations.
The bowl promoters don't give a rat's ass about the TV ratings. They get their money from the sponsors, ticket sales, stadium ad revenue and promotions, concessions, etc. The TV revenue for the bowl games are negotiated with the conferences-- as a package-- well in advance. Since ESPN owns almost all of the bowls now, it's really just a portfolio investment for them. Some games will be winners, some will be losers, and overall they're making the bet they're going to come out on top. They keep investing so I suppose it's working for them.
well, a few Horn fans with kids might want to fly to an amusement park
the HUGE majority would rather make the short drive to San Antonio
Absolutely. I don't personally know a single Longhorn fan in Austin, Dallas, or Houston, that would spend the money to travel to Orlando to watch an immensely disappointing 7-5 Texas team play football. Not even against Notre Dame. But plenty of them would go to San Antonio.
Not just that, but outside of CFP and NY6 type bowls, the majority of attendance for most bowls comes from locals. There are TONS of Longhorn "t-shirt fans" in San Antonio that would never bother to come to Austin for a game, but will be delighted to go see a game in their home city. We've seen that play out every time we've been in the Alamo Bowl-- lots and lots of San Antonio locals that didn't necessarily graduate from UT but still root for the Longhorns. That's maybe not the best thing for the local hotels and restaurants since many day-trip in (like I have twice), but the Alamo Bowl promoters are not really concerned with that-- they're worried about gate receipts, concessions, etc.