Certainly a possibility. Did they have any major players who opted out of the game to protect their NFL draft status?
They were too busy tweeting about how they should’ve been in the playoff instead of Notre Dame.
Feels like every couple years the Sugar Bowl becomes the Letdown Bowl. (Google indicates I’m not the only one to think of this!)
No clue. I don’t really follow this stuff much any more. It’s amazing how much a few decades can do to change your outlook!
I think they had one guy sit out. Not like LSU that had two guys sit out and then had two more get ejected during the game.
But I do think that was easily the best Texas looked all season.
Two teams from the south playing for the fourth year in a row, this time in San Francisco? Not too surprising.
The real money is from TV though. When the TV contract drops I am sure they will worry.
Look at the crowds in almost every bowl game. Most are lucky to be 30% full. Ticket sales don’t mean squat.
At some point they’ll have to give away tickets so they can get those panning shots over the cheering throngs that make the televised games such spectacles. An empty stadium will not sit well with sponsors!
Well as I said, most bowls don’t have big crowds. In fact teams are required to buy tickets, often up to 15k of them. Many times the schools just eat that because they can’t sell that many. It is one reason, along with the cost of travel, while most schools in mid to small bowls actually lose money going to a bowl game. But they go for the media coverage and recruiting possibilities.
Yeah, just about every Alabama/Clemson fan who would travel for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity probably already has. You end up left with the ones it’s easy for (rich and/or local - and that latter doesn’t apply).
Also, while Levi’s is an excellent stadium (especially when it isn’t 90 degrees out on the sunny side), it is hellish getting in and out - which most of the (admittedly small) local college football fans already know too well. And the game is played at the tail end of Rush Hour in bad bay area traffic on a weekday - locals aren’t going unless they live walking distance away…
Actually I heard a guy on radio today say that Levi Stadium will probably be replaced in 20 years because of how bad it is, how far it is from SF and the problem they have with growing grass there.
Plus, lets face it. California football fans are pretty much homers if they are fans at all.
Which boggles the mind, considering the climate.
I think it stems from the drought - back then, I remember that they couldn’t get grasses from the grass grower because the grower couldn’t get enough water.
Except for the Rose Bowl, of course!
This is not just any bowl game, its the national title game. Most bowl games are completely meaningless and have been diluted in impact by the sheer number of them. Currently there are 41 bowl games. There are more teams in the football post season than are placed the NCAA basketball tournament. Financially you are correct, ticket sales don’t mean squat. But the optics are not good and I am sure that the NCAA is concerned about the optics. Especially as they have locked the title game into being held in SF for the next several years. Considering that the south is the current hotbed for NCAA Football, that seems to be an ill advised choice.
I didn’t know the game was locked into SF for the next several years. That was no doubt a decision made by the powers that be (not the NCAA?) based on money. The game should really be played somewhere centrally located so that actual fans would have it easier to attend.
Turns out that this was misinformation. It will not be in SF next year but in New Orleans. The article I read said that SF put in a bid for 4 consecutive years that it was accepted but it turns out that the NCAA tentatively accepted and then changed their minds. My bad, I should have paid closer attention to the date on the article.
Holding the game in NO makes much more sense. The current schedule is:
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2019 – Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara, California).
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2020 – Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
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2021 – Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
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2022 – Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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2023 – Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California.
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2024 – NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Wow, 21 points in 5 minutes. Looks like a Big 12 game…first to 50 points might win.
Clemson is pummeling Bama right now.
This is incredible.