Recent College Football Postseasons Show Why (40+) Bowl Games Proliferate (These Numbers May Surprise You)

By David Glenn

 

One of the more perplexing complaints among many college sports fans in recent decades has been that there are “too many bowl games.” Somehow, though, it’s rarely discussed why there are so many bowl games, and you may be surprised by the answer.

There’s no doubt that college football’s postseason has grown dramatically, from nine bowl games in 1950 to 11 in 1975 to 25 in 2000 and now 40-plus in the recently completed 2022-23 season. That means more than 80 teams, out of the 131 playing at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, are needed to populate all the bowl slots.

By rule, bowl eligibility requires six or more victories and at least a .500 winning percentage; lots of 6-6 teams receive and accept postseason invitations, and occasionally someone with a losing record gets a waiver and plays when there aren’t enough eligible teams to fill the slate. These facts tend to be the foundation of complaints from the “too-many-bowls” crowd.

At the highest level, of course, there’s no mystery.

About a decade ago, a major sports broadcaster (ESPN) saw massive value in the possibility of creating the first FBS playoff in college football history, which dates to 1869. The current four-team bracket, which began after the 2014 regular season, brings in a reported $470 million per year from ESPN, and its enormous television audiences have justified that massive investment.

Ohio State’s win over Oregon in January 2015 is by far the most-watched game of the playoff era, with 34.6 million average viewers. In the entire 2015 calendar year, considering TV programs of all types, only the Super Bowl (115.2 million), the NFL’s AFC championship game (42.3 million) and the Oscars (38.6 million) brought in larger audiences in the United States.

For comparison, the most popular “regularly scheduled” programs in 2015 were Sunday Night Football (23.3 million average for the entire NFL regular season), The Big Bang Theory (21.1 million), NCIS (20.9 million), The Walking Dead (19.7 million) and Empire (17.7 million).

“The College Football Playoff is enormously popular,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. “We do surveys every year, because we want to know what the fans are thinking. The (playoff) committee has had a favorable rating close to 90 percent. The playoff itself has been well over 80 percent. People love the College Football Playoff.”

Here are the other eight playoff title game results, with their respective average (TV + streaming) audiences: Alabama over Clemson in 2015-16 (26.7 million), Clemson over Alabama in 2016-17 (26.0 million), Alabama over Georgia in 2017-18 (28.4 million), Clemson over Alabama in 2018-19 (25.3 million), LSU over Clemson in 2019-20 (26.9 million), Alabama over Ohio State in 2020-21 (18.7 million) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia over Alabama in 2021-22 (22.6 million), and Georgia’s 65-7, over-before-halftime annihilation of Texas Christian on Monday night (17.2 million).

While there is an obvious declining trend in those numbers, each of those championship games finished among America’s 50 most-watched television programs (sports or otherwise) in their respective calendar years, and while 2023 has plenty of time remaining, the Georgia-TCU number may rank among this year’s top 50, too.

So, what explains the many lower-profile bowl games?

First, philosophically speaking, it’s hard to understand most of the too-many-bowls hate. Nobody is forced to watch, after all, so there are no true victims here. Moreover, thousands of players get one more road trip with their teammates, friends and families, often to enticing and/or warm-weather locations, plus up to $500 worth of bowl-provided swag (each) and perhaps some lifelong memories as well. How could all of that possibly be a bad thing?

Practically speaking, the answer to the “why” question regarding the smaller bowls is similar to the explanation for the bigger bowls, just on a reduced scale: major sports broadcasters (mostly ESPN) see value in these games, and the (much smaller but still significant) television audiences they’re getting during the winter holiday season are justifying their (much lower) investments.

As the results (see below) from the last two seasons indicate, a handful of these postseason matchups average more than 10 million viewers, a significant number average more than 5 million viewers, a large majority average more than 2 million viewers, and all but three average more than 1 million viewers per game.

Average TV/Streaming Audiences For 2021-22 and 2022-23 Bowls

  • 2021-22 CFB Playoff title game (Georgia-Alabama), ESPN: 22.6 million
  • 2022-23 Peach Bowl/semifinal (Georgia-Ohio State), ESPN: 22.4 million
  • 2022-23 Fiesta Bowl/semifinal (TCU-Michigan), ESPN: 21.4 million
  • 2022-23 CFB Playoff title game (Georgia-TCU), ESPN: 17.2 million
  • 2021-22 Orange Bowl/semifinal (Georgia-Michigan), ESPN: 17.2 million
  • 2021-22 Cotton Bowl/semifinal (Alabama-Cincinnati), ESPN: 16.6 million
  • Rose Bowl (Ohio St-Utah/Penn St-Utah), ESPN: 16.6M/10.2M
  • Sugar Bowl (Baylor-Mississippi/Alabama-Kansas St), ESPN: 9.8M/9.1M
  • 2022-23 Orange Bowl (Tennessee-Clemson), ESPN: 8.7 million
  • 2021-22 Fiesta Bowl (Oklahoma St-Notre Dame), ESPN: 7.9 million
  • 2021-22 Peach Bowl (Michigan St-Pitt), ESPN: 7.6 million
  • Cheez-It Bowl (Clemson-Iowa St/FSU-Oklahoma), ESPN: 4.9M/5.4M
  • Citrus Bowl (Kentucky-Iowa/LSU-Purdue), ABC: 6.5M/3.3M
  • Alamo Bowl (Oregon-Oklahoma/Washington-Texas), ESPN: 4.7M/4.8M
  • Gator Bowl (WF-Rutgers/Notre Dame-South Carolina), ESPN: 3.5M/5.8M
  • Music City Bowl (Purdue-Tennessee/Iowa-Kentucky), ESPN/ABC: 5.6M/3.0M
  • 2022-23 Cotton Bowl (Tulane-Southern Cal), ESPN: 4.2 million
  • Holiday Bowl (UCLA-NC State/Oregon-UNC), FOX: DNP/4.0 million
  • Liberty Bowl (Mississippi St-Texas Tech/Arkansas-Kansas), ESPN: 3.9M/3.9M
  • Gasparilla Bowl (UCF-Florida/Wake Forest-Missouri), ESPN: 3.2M/3.5M
  • Las Vegas Bowl (Wisconsin-Arizona St/Oregon St-Florida), ESPN: 3.7M/2.5M
  • ReliaQuest Bowl (Penn St-Arkansas/Illinois-Mississippi St), ESPN2: 3.9M/2.2M
  • Sun Bowl (Central Michigan-Washington St/Pitt-UCLA), CBS: 2.9M/2.8M
  • Independence Bowl (BYU-UAB/Houston-Louisiana), ABC: 3.2M/2.4M
  • LA Bowl (Utah St-Oregon St/Fresno St-Washington St), ABC: 2.9M/2.4M
  • Duke’s Mayo Bowl (South Carolina-UNC/Maryland-NC State), ESPN: 2.6M/2.7M
  • Pinstripe Bowl (Maryland-Virginia Tech/Minnesota-Syracuse), ESPN: 2.4M/2.7M
  • Birmingham Bowl (Houston-Auburn/Coastal Carolina-ECU), ESPN: 2.4M/2.6M
  • Celebration Bowl (SCSU-Jacksonville St/NCCU-Jackson St), ABC: 2.6M/2.4M
  • Guaranteed Rate Bowl (WVU-Minnesota/Oklahoma St-Wisconsin), ESPN: 2.4M/2.6M
  • Texas Bowl (Kansas St-LSU/Texas Tech-Mississippi), ESPN: 2.4M/2.6M
  • First Responder Bowl (Air Force-Louisville/Memphis-Utah St), ESPN: 2.7M/2.2M
  • Armed Forces Bowl (Army-Missouri/Baylor-Air Force), ESPN: 2.6M/2.0M
  • Military Bowl (BC-East Carolina/UCF-Duke), ESPN: DNP/2.2 million
  • Fenway Bowl (SMU-Virginia/Cincinnati-Louisville), ESPN: DNP/2.0 million
  • New Mexico Bowl (UTEP-Fresno St/BYU-SMU), ESPN/ABC: 1.5M/2.0M
  • Camellia Bowl (Ball St-Georgia St/Georgia Southern-Buffalo), ESPN: 1.7M/1.5M
  • Boca Raton Bowl (WKU-Appalachian St/Toledo-Liberty), ESPN: 1.6M/1.5M
  • Cure Bowl (Northern Illinois-Coastal Carolina/Troy-UTSA), ESPN2/ESPN: 1.3M/1.5M
  • Idaho Potato Bowl (Kentucky-Wyoming/EMU-San Jose St), ESPN: 1.3/1.1M
  • LendingTree Bowl (Eastern Michigan-Liberty), ESPN: 1.2M/1.2M
  • New Orleans Bowl (Louisiana-Marshall/WKU-South Alabama), ESPN: 1.1M/1.2M
  • Frisco Bowl (San Diego St-UTSA/Boise St-North Texas), ESPN: 1.2M/1.0M
  • Quick Lane Bowl (WMU-Nevada/NMSU-Bowling Green), ESPN: 1.1M/2.3M
  • Hawaii Bowl (Memphis-Hawaii/Middle Tennessee-SDSU), ESPN: DNP/1.1 million
  • Myrtle Beach Bowl (ODU-Tulsa/Marshall-UConn), ESPN: 918,000/921,000
  • HomeTown Lenders Bowl (MTSU-Toledo/UAB-Miami-Ohio), ESPN: 851,000/822,000
  • Arizona Bowl (Boise St-CMU/Ohio-Wyoming), Barstool Sports: DNP/~100,000*

*-available only via streaming; no “average viewers” (as with TV) number available

DNP = bowl canceled in December 2021 because of COVID-19 complications

The Oregon-UNC matchup in this year’s Holiday Bowl, for example, attracted an average audience of approximately 4 million viewers. That’s a very impressive, impactful number.

For comparison, in men’s college basketball, the second most popular college sport, even conference championship games almost never reach that 4 million number anymore. NCAA Tournament games almost always attract bigger (typically much bigger) audiences, but during the regular season and conference tournaments, only a small handful of must-see-TV games (e.g., Duke-Carolina in most years) reach or surpass the 4 million threshold.

Among the dozens of other college sports, 4 million is an almost unthinkable number. The only exceptions are in women’s basketball, and only in its NCAA Tournament title game, which has attracted 4 million (or more) viewers nine times in the last 25 seasons.

Because the Disney-owned family of networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, etc.) controls the TV/streaming rights to all but three bowl games — a corporate subsidiary, ESPN Events, actually owns and operates 17 of the smaller and mid-level bowls — the company can seek the best matchups, select its preferred day/time slots, mostly avoid head-to-head competition with other bowls, and otherwise maximize its chance of high ratings and, thus, postseason success.

This season, the Disney outlets collectively televised two bowls on Dec. 16, six on Dec. 17 (starting at 11 am and finishing after midnight), one on Dec. 19, two on Dec. 20, one on Dec. 21, one on Dec. 22, two on Dec. 23, one on Dec. 24, one on Dec. 26, four on Dec. 27 (starting at noon and finishing after midnight), three on Dec. 28, three on Dec. 29, three on Dec. 30, four on Dec. 31 (including the two national semifinals), four on Jan. 2, and of course the championship game on Monday night. Only rarely was a game in competition with another bowl.

Clearly, then, there is a method to this postseason gridiron madness, and as long as millions — and sometimes tens of millions — continue to watch, there will continue to be a lot of bowl games, large and small, from mid-December through mid-January every year.

(featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Derrick Tuskan)

David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.

The founding editor and long-time owner of the ACC Sports Journal and ACCSports.com, he also has contributed to the Durham Herald-Sun, ESPN Radio, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Raycom Sports, SiriusXM and most recently The Athletic. From 1999-2020, he also hosted the David Glenn Show, which became the largest sports radio program in the history of the Carolinas, syndicated in more than 300 North Carolina cities and towns, plus parts of South Carolina and Virginia.

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