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...

IIRC the concern about the OB wasn't attendance but TV ratings. It stood to reason that Florida's huge fan base would show up for an NY6 game in Florida.

(01-20-2020 10:22 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  IIRC the concer about the OB wasn't attendance but TV ratings. It stood to reason that Florida's huge fan base would show up for an NY6 game in Florida.

True, but so tough to compare directly when the Sugar Bowl is on New Year's Day while the Orange Bowl is stuck on a workday weeknight.

(01-20-2020 10:19 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  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...

I have heard that the Baylor fans did show up for the game. The Georgia fans stayed away most likely because half their team was going to as well.

(01-20-2020 10:38 AM)Big Frog II Wrote:  

(01-20-2020 10:19 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  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...

I have heard that the Baylor fans did show up for the game. The Georgia fans stayed away most likely because half their team was going to as well.

Good point. I really wish there was a reliable source of info for how many fans of each school were in attendance (for both the Sugar and the Orange Bowls)

(01-20-2020 10:19 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  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...

Sugar Bowl was majority Baylor fans. Georgia fans didn't show up after being there last year and a bunch of their players didn't bother to come either.

The year before, it was probably 60/40 Texas. Of course, Texas hadn't been to a major bowl in the few years and Georgia had been to the Rose Bowl the year before and probably had a 60/40 advantage over Oklahoma.

Here’s a list of reported attendance for all of this season’s bowl games.
https://slackiebrown.com/college-bowl-ga...e-updated/

Reported attendance is even more aggressively inflated for bowl games than regular season games. The numbers would be so much smaller if we were looking at the number of tickets sold at full price, ie not including discounted tickets, free tickets, or tickets the bowl forces each participating school to take as part of the team’s “payout”.

ESPiN really has the bowls over a barrel. Inventory, even over ratings, is all that matters. That is why the smaller bowls, the majority of the bowls, have to limit their choices to at least one local team, no matter of the competitiveness.