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

I went with "something weird" because:


https://youtu.be/nt7-WKXL5vw

There are some good points made here:These two are related. Live sports generate solid advertising revenue as long as there are a decent number of viewers and you can see from @CatsbyAZ 's post that even garbage bowls are doing about as well as great CBB matchups and NBA games so some network will pay enough to entice a city to try their hand at hosting.

As per @longhorn320 's post, however, a lot of those cities will find that it isn't worth their efforts so there will be turnover.

I do think that the playoffs tend to suck all the oxygen out of the room so to speak. As they expand there will be less and less interest in non-playoff bowls.

I hadn't thought of this until reading your comment but come to think of it, maybe we shouldn't be surprised that playoff expansion hasn't had much impact on viewership for  games like the Weedeater and Muffler Bowls.

Interest in the lower tier bowls was never dependent upon NC, top-10, or even rankings because the teams in those bowls aren't really part of that conversation.

Now that I'm thinking it through, the biggest losers from playoff expansion are probably the second tier bowls and the non-CFP former first-tier bowls.

For example, your team and mine played in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl (2008 season). At the time that game was a big deal.Texas was 11-1 and ranked #3. Ohio State was 10-2 and ranked #10.

Texas BARELY missed the B12CG on a tiebreaker (with OU whom they beat and TxTech who beat them). Ohio State's situation was somewhat similar as they were co-champions of the Big11Ten but lost the RB tiebreaker due to a one-score loss to Penn State just like Texas missed the B12CG due to a one-score loss to TxTech.

The NC was off the table but a top-5 ranking was clearly on the table for Texas and possibly also for Ohio State, final rankings:

• 13-1 Florida, beat #2 OU in BCSNCG
• 13-0 Utah, beat #4 Bama in Sugar
• 12-1 USC, beat #6 PSU in Rose
• 12-1 Texas, beat #10 tOSU in Fiesta
• 12-2 Oklahoma, lost to #1 UF in BCSNCG
• 12-2 Bama, lost to #7 Utah in Sugar
• 11-2 TCU, beat #9 Boise in Poinsettia
• 11-2 Penn State, lost to #5 USC in Rose
• 10-3 Ohio State, lost to #3 Texas in Fiesta
• 10-3 Oregon, beat #13 OkSU in Holliday

Texas dropped a spot and Ohio State climbed a spot despite the Texas win in large part because it was a very close game.

If Ohio State had won, there would have been an argument to put them ahead of Texas whom they beat so #4 or possibly #5. However, there would also have been an argument to leave them behind Penn State whom they lost to so #9 or possibly #8 if Texas dropped to #9.

Those are stakes that mattered to people. Now the upper non-CFP bowls are just exhibitions with very limited stakes.

 By the end of May I'd absolutely LOVE to watch the weedeater bowl or the muffler bowl.