NCAA football: Free-spending expansion of college bowl schedule could be maxed out

Ralph D. Russo | The Associated Press

11/19/2008 - 11/20/08

NEW YORK — After years of relentless expansion, college football's nearly monthlong holiday party — the bowl season — finally seems to have maxed out.

Those involved in the bowl business say that, with the national economy flailing, events which are as much about tourism and corporate sponsorship as football now are staring at a set of challenges that will level off the number of second-tier bowls if not reduce them.

There are a lot of second-tier bowls to choose from.

"We're talking about disposable income and that's drying up as fast as water in the desert," said Paul Hoolahan, chairman of the Football Bowl Association and CEO of the Sugar Bowl.

The bowl roster stands at 34, giving 68 teams the chance to play a nationally televised game and be pampered by the host community. That's more than half of the 119 schools playing college football at its highest level.

The NCAA has been liberally licensing new bowls in recent years. Since 2002, 11 new bowl games have been established, while only three have closed up shop. Two games will debut this season, the EagleBank Bowl in Washington D.C., and the St. Petersburg Bowl in central Florida.

To get a license, organizers need a stadium, sponsorship, an agreement with two major college football conferences to put teams in the game and a network willing to televise the show.

People in the industry suspect that getting licensed and keeping that license will be tougher because of the economic crisis.

"As they are evaluated on an annual basis, I think a stricter criteria would probably be implemented to establish the fiscal viability of the business model," Hoolahan said.

In other words, can you raise enough money to pull this off?

Hoolahan runs a game with little to worry about. The Sugar Bowl is part of the Bowl Championship Series, along with the Rose, Orange and Fiesta bowls, and the national championship game.

ESPN agreed this week to a pay the BCS $125 million per year over four years, starting in 2010, to televise its games, excluding the Rose Bowl, which has its own lucrative TV deal. That's about $40 million a year from the current BCS-Fox deal.

The Sugar and the other BCS games pay about $17 million to each participating team, and the school splits that money with the rest of its conference.

With all that TV money, plus insurance giant Allstate as the title sponsor, the Sugar Bowl will have no problem paying its bills. Hoolahan expects another sellout crowd — or close to it — at the 72,000-seat Superdome on Jan. 2.

Bowls attract thousands of fans/tourists and media members, who fill hotels and restaurants and boost local businesses. Whether they'll be as big a financial bonanza this year is uncertain.

"That's the reason we do a bowl game," said Scott Ramsey, executive director of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. "We want people to come to Nashville and spend money and to get 31/2 hours of television time for our sponsors and city."

Even before the economic downturn, leagues have had to be careful about where they commit to send their teams.

The FBA has been warning about over-saturating the bowl market for years.

Now, with money tight for everyone, MAC commissioner Rick Cryst said,
"I think it's brought us into better rhythm with the Bowl Association."

He might be right.