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History of the past 50 years: How did we get to 41 bowl games?
By John Brasier
Published:
Fifty years ago, some of the nation’s best teams didn’t get invitations to bowl games.
In 1965, there were only nine bowl games — the traditional big four consisting of the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton plus the Gator, Liberty, Sun, Bluebonnet and Tangerine.
How important were the bowls? Until 1965, The Associated Press named its national champions before the bowl games. The United Press International didn’t wait until after the bowls until 1974.
The trips for the teams fortunate enough to be invited were great: Pasadena, Miami, New Orleans and Dallas on New Year’s Day. Of the five leading up to the big day, two were in Florida, two were in Texas and the other was in Memphis.
Most games was named after a product associated with the area around the bowl city. None were named after companies, including online sites.
Today, there are 41 bowl games (counting the National Championship Game) with three 5-7 teams participating. Some teams will be headed to Detroit, Boise, the Bronx, Charlotte and Shreveport in the dead of winter.
Why the exponential growth, which for the most part, spun out of control over the past 20 years?
A few reasons: television, tourism and title sponsorship advertising.
Though attendance is often low at bowls, ESPN discovered the popularity of the games with its audience and the accompanying advertising revenue it could sell was high. This season, all but two of the 41 games (including the national championship game) will be televised on the Disney-owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 networks.
A bowl game presents a financial opportunity for hotels and restaurants in bowl cities and provide revenue to the host city in the form of hospitality and sales taxes.
Fans from the participating towns will buy tickets, stay in hotels and dine in restaurants. It’s a nice boost to the local economy.
Business recognized the value in title sponsorships. Who ever heard of insight.com or godaddy.com before they anted up for title sponsorships? As a result, this year the title of bowl games hawk everything from Idaho Potatoes to obstacle course races (Battle Frog).
The growth in bowl games may be over. Last week, NCAA president Mark Emmert said the organization needs to decide the purpose of the games. Are bowl games a reward or just another game on the schedule?
Plus, bowl expansion was needed to accommodate teams from smaller FBS conferences.
There are competitive reasons for the expansion of the bowl schedule over the years. Prior to 1975, the Big Ten and Pac-12 (8) only allowed their champions to play in a (Rose) bowl game. Notre Dame didn’t accept bowl invitations until 1969.
Perhaps the NCAA would favor a 13-game regular season rather than a bloated bowl schedule.
Here’s a look at the expansion of bowl games over the last five decades (after 1965, only top additions listed):
1965 Bowl Games (9): Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Sun, Tangerine, Gator, Bluebonnet, Liberty.
1975 Bowl Games (11): Peach, Fiesta.
1985 Bowl Games (19): Hall of Fame, Freedom, Aloha, Citrus, Holiday, Cherry, Independence, California.
1995 Bowl Games (18): Carquest, Alamo, Copper, Las Vegas.
2005 Bowl Games (28): New Orleans, GMAC, Famous Idaho Potato, Poinsettia, Emerald, Fort Worth, Motor City, Champs, Car Care, Houston, Outback.
2015 – Bowl Games (41): Celebration, New Mexico, Camellia, Cure, Miami Beach, GoDaddy, Pinstripe, Bahamas, Heart of Dallas, Foster Farms, Military, QuickLane, Armed Forces, Arizona, Texas, Birmingham, Cactus, National Championship Game.
