The Winston-Salem Journal said Wake sold out its allotment of 17,500 tickets and had an estimated 30,000 fans at the Orange Bowl.

Wake will never relinquish or reduce its spot in the ACC. It’s a major component in distinguishing Wake from schools like Davidson and Emory in recruiting students to the school.

(01-07-2019 08:05 PM)Statefan Wrote:  Neil - College football bowl games are different from when WF last played in the Orange Bowl. The non-playoff bowls don't have very much meaning and that's one of the reasons attendance is down.

Not disputing that. And your big alumni pool = better chance for traveling fans argument is indeed still in tact for non-NY6 bowls and tacitly in tact/likely influences the CFP committee when it comes to picking the CFP four semi-finalists. But we are specifically talking about the valuation of the Orange when it is not a CFP semi-final game and in the new paradigm it's not relevant. And it's a valuation that the Orange had no true part in since the media rights for the game belong to the ACC not the Orange Bowl.

The actual risk management that you like to talk so much about already happened when the Orange decided first they wanted to be a NY6 Bowl (and not a glorified Citrus Bowl) and second that they wanted to be a contract bowl with the ACC instead of having even less control over their fate like the Fiesta, Cotton, and Peach.

Again, for the Cotton and Peach this risk assessment was a no-brainer decision because it was elevating them in status. For the Fiesta and Orange they were about to take a step backwards since the Fiesta Bowl lost their conference contract tie-in when the B12 went with the Sugar to be the SEC's two conference match-up (similar to the Rose) and the Orange saw the distinct possibility that their conference tie-in from the BCS days might be left out altogether.

When you finally come to understand this, you will realize why your alumni argument regarding attendance and its importance to non-CFP semi-final NY6 Bowls is immaterial to the valuation of said bowls. Get out of your old way of thinking and get with the new paradigm.

Because if college football ever does go to further playoff expansion, it will likely blow-up the entire bowl system. But I suspect this old fart won't be around to see that happen.

Cheers,
Neil