LAMENT According to Websters Collegiate dictionary the word lament is a verb and is an expression of grief or sorrow. Maybe grief is a bit too strong in this case, but I certainly felt sorrow when my Texas A&M Aggies lost the Belk Bowl football game to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 55 - 52, today, 29 December 2017. The effect that a loss by a favorite team has on the personal psyche of the fan is truly amazing. We really feel “down” when that happens. I can use the word in an additional context by saying “it is lamentable that the officiating was not more accurate.” With 45 seconds left in the game and with Wake leading 55 - 52, Aggies with the ball at midfield, QB Nick Starkel launched a deep pass, Jhamon Ausbon was behind the WF defense at about the WF 10 yard line. The pass was on target, but Ausbon was very clearly tackled by Essang Bassey and the pass fell harmlessly to the turf. No flag for the obvious infraction. That play determined the outcome of the game. I recall that last basketball season, I was once again lamenting an obvious non-call that sent my Arkansas Razorbacks out of the NCAA tournament. It was late in the game, crunch time, the North Carolina player both charged and traveled on the play before passing for a score. The call for either infraction would have sent the Razorbacks to the other end of the court with the opportunity to take the lead. Now here I am once again in the lamenting mode with the Aggies. The score of the game is astounding to me. Over 100 points scored and over 1,200 total yards in the 55 - 52 WF win. What has happened to defense in college football? In the 30 bowl games played to this date, 36 of the 60 teams scored over 30 points, 10 scored over 40 and 6 scored over 50. I recall what I thought was a really great game in 1957 between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Aggies, coached by Bear Bryant, were ranked nationally at Number One. The Razorbacks led 6 - 0 for most of the game, but the Aggies scored late to win 7 - 6. Coach Bryant was asked after the game if he thought his Aggies should retain the Number One ranking. He replied “absolutely. Didn’t you see the way we ran up the score on them?” Bear sarcastic humor, of course, but scores of that nature were common then. Incidentally John David Crow was a member of that Aggie team. That year the Aggies lost their last three games by a total of 6 points, vs Rice 6 -7, vs Texas 7 - 9, and vs Florida 0 - 3 in the Gator Bowl. So, the 1957 Aggies finished the season at 8 - 3 and ranked nationally at Number Eight. Here in Reno, Nevada we have easy access to the handicapping on most sporting events by the professional handicappers at the casinos. It is really amazing how accurate these handicappers are. But it is their livelihood and they have all the facts and figures available. It is equally amazing how often they have missed the mark with the college bowl games. On the first weekend, 16 December 2017, it was a disaster. Of the five games handicapped, they picked the winner in only one - calling four incorrectly. As of today they have gotten back on track, but have improved to picking the winner in only 65 % of the games. This is astounding. This is not missing the spread, but missing the winner. Of the remaining bowl games the handicappers have Louisville over Mississippi State by 4, Memphis over Iowa State by 3, Penn State over Washington by 3, Wisconsin over Miami by 6, Michigan over South Carolina by 7, Auburn over UCF by 8, LSU over Notre Dame by 1, Georgia over Oklahoma by 3, Alabama over Clemson by 2. In the two playoff games this is certainly contrary to the Final College Football Playoff Ranking - the rankings that established the playoff. The casino handicappers have Number 4 beating Number 1 and Number 3 beating Number 2. If the handicappers are correct, as they most often are, there would be an all SEC Championship Game. OK, our livelihood doesn’t depend on our choice and our choice doesn’t affect our net worth - so we can just relax and enjoy the games and see how the handicappers did. The first Semi-Final game will be in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on 1 January 2017 between Oklahoma and Georgia.
The second Semi-Final game will be in the Sugar Bowl, the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, on 1 January between Clemson and Alabama.
Do you remember when we had only a few bowl games such as the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Sun and Cotton? No? Well, there was a time when there was only one - the Rose Bowl. The first game was played there in 1902, but the annual Rose Bowl Game really began in 1916. The reason for the event was to promote tourism and industry in the area. The Rose continued to be the only bowl for many years. The Sugar, Orange and Sun joined the club in 1935 with the Cotton following in 1937. All the bowl games were played on New Year’s Day. The games were played in warm climates where good weather could be expected - Southern California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Louisiana. There was no commercial air travel in those early days, so there had to be time to allow the teams, fans and families to travel to the bowl location after the end of the regular college football season. Only the best teams would be given a bowl invitation. There are now 35 bowl games which this year began play on 16 December. Also if a team wins six games it is eligible for a bowl invitation. Municipalities had realized that the bowl games gave them the opportunity to promote local tourism, local industry and local activity. With attendance, sponsors and TV revenue the bowl game could pay for itself. For profit organizations also realized that the bowl game could be an asset. The bowl business, and it did become a business, had proliferated. The inevitable occurred - the market became saturated. That is where we are now and have been for the past few years. At the lower tier level, costs have increased, attendance has decreased, TV has begun to offer less money for TV rights - the lower tier bowl business has become a losing business model. Viewing the empty seats in the lower tier games reveals the situation with these games. The non-profit bowl games simply could not afford to operate at a loss. After losing money in 2013 and 2014 the Foster Farms Bowl transferred ownership to the NFL San Francisco 49ers. Three Pro teams now own bowl games: 49ers, Detroit Lions, New York Yankees. The Poinsettia Bowl was abandoned. The Miami Beach Bowl sold itself to ESPN. ESPN now owns 13 games which have become little more than ‘made for TV’ events. But smaller crowds and struggles at the lower tier doesn’t mean that the overall bowl industry is in trouble. It’s just that the business model has changed. This industry remains a supply and demand business. And there remains plenty of demand for these bowls from the conferences, the schools and the fans who want to see their team in a bowl game even if they only win six games. The conferences want their teams in a bowl game to generate more TV income. The teams want a post season game to have more practice and exposure for recruiting. The fans just want to see their team in action once more. So, the bowls are not going away. The post season is actually healthy. The reason is the windfall from the Playoff. The Playoff gets about $470 million per year from ESPN. The bowl games collectively paid out about $622 million to conferences and schools last season, including $441 million from the Playoff alone, according to NCAA financial records. After $105 million in expenses, the conferences and schools realized a $512 million “profit.” Last year the ACC received $20.3 million from the playoff despite not having a team in it. If they didn’t receive this they would have lost a little over $1 million on their bowl trips because the lower tier bowls didn’t pay enough to cover the $5.9 million in combined league bowl expenses. It is a system that works well for the biggest bowls and all the leagues and teams that play in the postseason. It hasn’t worked well for the smaller stand-alone organizations that need to sell tickets, sponsorships and TV rights to pay expenses including the payout to conferences that put teams in their games. This is where ESPN comes in, even to the point of bowl ownership. ESPN now owns 13 games which are essentially made-for-TV events. In this case attendance is not so significant. ESPN wants live TV programming during the holiday season to draw viewers, sell advertising, beat the competition, reinforce the network’s value with cable distribution and satellite providers, and realize a profit that pleases the owners. We simply have a new business model in the college football bowl industry. This industry is alive and well and generating a staggering amount of income. Look at the salary of the college football coaches.
There are many of us sports fans who don’t know what precipitated the explosion of revenue in college football. It was not an event on the football field. It was a decision by the US Supreme Court with Justice John Paul Stevens delivering the opinion. It is possible that the rise of cable TV and the Internet might have forced college football to move toward what it is today anyway. But the Court’s decision put the change in motion in 1984 and made college football and the media into today’s sports megalith overflowing with cash. Before that college football on TV was tightly controlled by the NCAA. In the early 80s with the NCAA firmly in control a college was limited to no more than six TV appearances over two years. It also carefully controlled “competition.” Essentially the only TV outlets were ABC, CBS and NBC. The Internet didn’t exist and ESPN was in its infancy. Consequently the only way to see your favorite team in action was to attend the game or hope that it had earned a rare appearance on TV. The fans didn’t like this situation one bit. And the Power 5 Conferences didn’t either. After years of unsuccessfully trying to convince the NCAA to change the rules, the big schools formed the College Football Association to negotiate directly with the TV networks for a better deal. They eventually achieved this with NBC. The NCAA retaliated by threatening to put the schools on probation, making them ineligible for postseason competition in any sport. The lines were thusly drawn. The CFA decided to go to court. To do so it needed some schools to put their names on an anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA as NCAA members who would be harmed by the threatened penalties. Interestingly enough the two schools playing in this years Semi-final Rose Bowl Playoff, Georgia and Oklahoma, agreed to be plaintiffs in the case. After several years of appeals by the NCAA, the US Supreme Court settled it in June 1984. It then took a few years, but market dynamics eventually created the big money system. Now there is so much TV money flooding the system that most big programs cover all their costs and even make a profit. Also, some conferences have their own cable TV networks and all their games are televised. And they still play in sold-out stadiums. The big money is actually a trickle down system which spreads the wealth while increasing revenue and exposure. The College Football Playoff Administration LLC has been formed to control rights and revenue. The CFPA is affiliated with only six major bowl games and receives $470 million annually from ESPN. It is owned by Notre Dame and ten conferences. All the owners receive a payout even though they may not play in any of the games. There is plenty of money to spread around. Thirty nine of the schools pay their head football coaches over $3 million a year. College football is more popular than ever. And the big schools play in sold-out stadiums even though their games are televised.