I always thought bowl games were intended to bring in two teams from out of town so the fans would follow, stay in the hotels and motels, visit the restaurants and sites, and spend lots of money? That said, here's 'homer' bowl games: San Diego - San Diego State vs. Navy (and the Navy (fleet) is based where?) Hawaii - Hawaii vs. Tulsa Wash DC - Maryland vs. East Carolina Houston - Baylor vs. Illinois Dallas - SMU vs. Army Bronx NY - Syracuse vs. Kansas State Nashville - Tennessee vs. North Carolina N Carolina - Clemson vs. South Florida Dallas - Texas Tech vs. Northwestern Tampa - Florida vs. Penn State Arlington - Texas A&M vs. LSU So much for out-of-state revenue.
The thing to remember is that smaller Bowl games don't want to have teams from too far away. Since the BCS games are so much more money and prestige people will travel farther and spend more money to go to those games. The small games probably figure that they need to draw fan bases from no more than an eight to ten hour drive. People will hop in the car and come out much easier than taking an airplane. When I fly someplace I usually want to stay a minimum of two nights but driving I will go down then back next day no problem. It's all about filling the stadium so it looks good on TV for sponsors. That's one reason the Humanitarian Bowl switched from a lower seeded ACC team to a MAC team. The MAC is a lot closer geographically. When Miami (Florida) came out four or five years ago the stadium was full of the WAC fans and almost no Hurricane supporters. This year ther will probably be 30% NIU fans and the rest for Fresno State.
I'm actually looking forward to the El Paso Sun Bowl matchup of Miami vs. Notre Dame. I hope we crush them. No mercy in this dojo!!! Outside of the BCS games, this should be one of the most interesting matchups. BT
SMU is actually playing in their home stadium.........Last year they got to go to Hawaii. I guess this is a payback for that........ If TCU had not started demolition of the old stadium SMU would have played in Fort Worth as that is where the Armed Forces Bowl has been played previously.... http://www.ktsm.com/news/stadium-imploded
It's always tough for the bowl committees to make these decisions... I know in the tougher economic times they have been more prone to pick 'homer' schools so as to increase the odds of a sell out. Unrelated: Really would have been nice to have OU play Stanford and have UCONN and VaTech play one another... that way fans would have gotten one pretty cool game instead of two pretty lame games
BT, you are not going to want to hear this, and I am no huge fan of ND, but I think they are going to beat you. MB
Found out today that TCU sold out all the tickets they received for the Rose Bowl by the second day. They have over 5,000 on a waiting list just in case they receive more tickets, which of course they will not. What do scalped tickets go for at the Rose Bowl?? Also, American Airlines has had to add four more charter flights to carry the number of fans wanting to attend. People will follow a team with an excellent record, especially if it is someone like TCU who is known to be demographically in the upper income range. And the student body is only 8,800. Kinda small compared to 95% of the other bowl teams....
While I am an alum, I think I am looking at it objectively when I say we are going to put the smackdown on Notre Dame. I don't see it being close. BT
God made ND Number one, Miami made them #2!!! I use to have a t-shirt that read that back in the early 90's. Go CANES!
LOL! Can't stand the 'canes myself though. I'm an OU fan and the Sooners went 33-3 from '85 to '87...one loss a year...each to the U...and to add salt in the wound Johnson coached Ok St before the Miami. Boomer Sooner!
I went to the all the home games in Miami from 85-90. I remember people hanging likenesses of Brian Bosworth from the upper deck at the OU games. Those were the glory days. It was awesome! I don't mind OU or Nebraska. GO CANES!!! BT
Yes, those were the days. I almost got creamed by the Boz when he chased a RB out of bounds in Lincoln, and Boz hurdled me as I was down on one knee shooting pics. Amazing.
