Spence wrote:We will see. I think they will go away at 16 team. I don't see 32 ever working. I think TV's goal with playoffs has always been the elimination of the bowls that they lose a ton of money on. The playoff games will cost more and more for the TV rights under competitive bids and the bowls won't be able to survive. That is how I see it anyway.
I think at first you will see a few of the really less popular bowls go away. Most people will agree they didn't need those because most now think there are too many. Then when they start ponying up more money for the playoffs, they will eliminate more and more until they are gone. The playoffs games are the only games TV is going to want to invest in.
espn is playing up to this with the current Bowl Season that starts tomorrow.
espn will be broadcasting 3 Bowls Games back - to back - to back [not including the game that will play on their abc affiliate].
We'll then get a slight break, as; there will be only 1 game on the 23rd, and 1 game on the 24th (Christmas Eve).
Two games on the 26th, shown back to back.
But then espn will have 3 games on the 27th, with a 2:30 pm start time & the final game on @ 9:30 pm.
Then it gets absurd: December 28th espn will have 4 Bowl Games playing back - to back - to back - to back, from a start time @ 12 noon through a final start time @ 10:15 pm.
Likewise, December 30th espn will be broadcasting 4 Bowl Games playing back - to back - to back - to back, from a start time @ 11:45 am through the final start time @ 10:15 pm.
New Year's Eve espn will have 3 games on back - to back - to back, starting @ 12 noon through the final start time @ 8:oo pm.
New Year's Day espn will flood the airways with Bowl Games, having 3 games back - to back - to back, starting @ 1:oo pm through a final start time of 8:30 pm --- espn2 will have a game on @ 12 noon --- espnU will have a game on at 12 noon --- and abc will have a game on @ 1:oo pm.
Then they'll have: 1 game on the 2cnd - 1 game on the 3rd - 1 game on the 4th - 1 game on the 5th - finishing with the last game on the 6th.
I would venture to say that it is evident, espn is saturating the market in order to overwhelm the viewer to the point where they simply get tired of all those games, and start complaining that there are too many.
35 Bowls is quite a large number.
Though, it could be a suitable number of games, if there were more networks involved; competing with espn, by broadcasting some of these Bowls on the same time slot.
Years back, espn convinced the conference bigwigs, that by showcasing all of these games on the same network, would allow every game to get its due.
It was a ploy, because espn has always wanted a playoff, and putting these games on such a spread out schedule, only hurt the ratings in the long run.
It gave espn a near Monopoly during Bowl season (outside of the Cotton Bowl broadcast by FOX {which will be competing with the
Orange Bowl} & the
Sun Bowl on CBS {which will be competing against the V100 & Liberty Bowls}) --- and now it has given them the ability to frustrate the common football fan with sensory overload.
It's deliberacy as a tool for manipulation.
ah! -
the power of the media.
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