The bowl games are bizarre relics of the early days of American football. It was a regional sport and conferences meant basically everything. "National Champions" were simply writers speculating. Bowls were essentially a prize for good conference performance. They were largely meaningless... akin to playing someone from another country in another sport.
However, due in large part to the national popularity and TV accessibility... and, of course, the morphing of conferences, bowls are struggling for relevancy. The BCS was the solution they came up with. I think we all agree it is convoluted and largely meaningless for bowls outside the BCS. But with all the monetary incentives, it is difficult to see it going away.
But I am suprised to see that alot of these bowls are still profitable. I assume if more and more schools don't sell out their allotment due to "Shitty Bowl Fatigue" I think we could potentially see a thinning of the ranks in bowls. But fans need to stop going to crappy bowls. Unfortunately, I'm a hypocrite as I have already booked my tix to THE GRANDADDY OF THEM ALL... THE TAXSLAYER.COM GATOR BOWL!!!!
