For all of you who were suggesting that the Orange Bowl was in trouble because they were stuck with an ACC contract that game them UVA...

Quote:Interestingly, the Orange Bowl [attendance], which everyone seemed to be worried about because of a lower-ranked Virginia team from the ACC, held up just fine and was only down 1,046 from the previous semi-final year (when it hosted Alabama vs. Oklahoma).

source: CFP Bowl Attendance Down in 2019-20

By contrast, look at what having the Big XII tie-in (which gave them Baylor) did to Sugar Bowl attendance:

Quote:Georgia and Baylor drew only 55,211 in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl. That was down 16,238 from the previous year's game, another non-semifinal when Texas beat Georgia. The Georgia-Baylor game was the eighth-lowest attended Sugar Bowl since it started in 1935. Three of the lowest-attended Sugar Bowls since the early days of the game in 1939 have come since 2013 [when the Big XII tie-in began].

source: CFP Bowls Post Record Low Attendance in 2019 Season

BTW, absolute attendance was also higher for the Orange Bowl (65,157 vs. 55,211) than for the Sugar Bowl.

Things that make you go Hmmm...