Many people go on and on about how this team got screwed over and how the bowls should only go by ranking/W-L. This proves that it's the matchups that sellout games, certain teams draw well, etc. The Bowls are a business and fannies in the seats and TV ratings and people in town spending money are very important to the health of the bowl. If Bowls only listen to the ninnies who don't care about the prime reason for the bowl in the first place, they would have half full stadiums and be money losers. Gator Bowl Sellout
While the selection of FSU will definately put fannies in the seats, it probably means that local businesses will not have the benefit of folks who come into town for a few days to attend the game. I would guess that most of the FSU fans live within a couple hours drive of Jacksonville and will just make a day of it.
It's Bobbah's last game.....in Florida.....therefore a must selection by the Gator Bowl and fitting for a coach with a great history of winning.....even if at all costs. :roll: :wink:
You guys missed the point completely. Many of you whine about some bowl picking Team A over Team B because Team B "deserved it more" that bowls are a "reward for a good season". Bowls weren't created to "reward teams for a good season" They were created to sell tickets, make money, and other ancillary benefits...and guess what who is in the bowl makes a difference. The Gator Bowl saw the opportunity to sellout the bowl, and most likely get a better TV rating as it's Bowdens last game. They took it, it made financial sense. If they were looking to reward some team for a good season they wouldn't have chosen FSU. They (and all the bowls) are looking to sell the most tickets that they can sell. It's why the Hawaii Bowl took ND last year after an embarassing loss at home to Syracuse and a blowout (again) at USC. It worked they had a huge crowd (for them) and the TV ratings were their best in years.
Terry I know what point you're tryint to make. On the other hand, taking FSU does little for hotels or restaurants. Their fans will drive to the game, tailgate and go home. What does that do for any of the businesses in the communtiy? They may have sold out with Clemson and more people might have chosen to stay a few days. So they traded ratings for local business. Great as long as you don't own a restaurant in Jacktown.
While what you say may be true, I can tell you that in Austin many fans do stay over night in the hotels/motels and eat in the restaurants even though they for the most part live within 3 hours of Austin. Football weekends are big for local businesses.
Zombie Billy Mayes here telling you to buy your Gator Bowl DVD Seriously, Gip's right. This is a home game. They will sell tickets, but not many hotel rooms. With the Gator Bowl changing directions soon, I am starting to wonder if they will take such things into future consideration. I know that the best thing for the Rose Bowl is a situation like this year. A team like Oregon whose fans travel, and consume a lot of alcohol... playing Ohio State, whose fans travel and consume a lot of alcohol. Drunk fans make bad spending decisions. If you don't fall into the drunk fan category, you're in the family category, and lord knows they spend traveling. I believe Oregon and Ohio State fans can qualify for both btw.
actually, yes and there have been articles written about that for years. While Bruin and Trojan fans have made a pretty penny selling their tickets for high dollar to midwestern folks starved for the nostalgia and history, they don't do sh*t for the local economy.
Tailgating on the Golf course was pretty cool. Grillin' out, drinking suds, working on the short game...
I'll bet that the Gator Bowl sets a record in the amount of gear/memorbila sold for this game as well. Using the logic most of you guys are appling the UGA/UF game must do nothing for the local economy either. UF fans certainly can drive in and drive home and Jacksonville isn't that far from Georgia. But I'll bet that just like the Red River Shootout in Dallas there are plenty of full hotels, bars and restaurants.
I'm with Terry on this one. I know what the Indpls. Colts games do for the Indianapolis area economy every time there is a home game. Everybody wins, even if the majority of fans living in Indiana drive to the game. Many, many Indiana residents make it a two-day affair, opting to stay in the local inns the night before the game. Also, take another look at the geography of Florida. There is a cutoff point south of J-ville where it doesn't make sense to try and make a one-day round trip. I would suggest that the majority of the Florida population (Orlando, Tampa-St. Pete, Atlantic coast south of Cape Canaveral, and points south) live 3 hours or more from J-ville, making a one-day round trip burdensome. I understand the general tone of negativity toward FSU, but to assume that the J-ville economy will not benefit in the same way as if they brought in a more distant school is a reach.
The Texas Bowl claims that they only have 15,000 tickets available for the public for the Missouri/Navy game. Now the stadium seats 70k I find it hard to believe that Missiouri and Navy have sold out their allotments. I'd believe it if it were A&M and Navy but not Missouri.
Just drove Tampa to Jax for Thanksgiving. It would be approx. 5 hours each way to and from a stadium parking spot and no way I would do that in one day.
I think there are some fan bases that are known to travel very well. Almost all of the B10 fan bases travel well during bowl season, I'm sure weather is a big factor. Neb is well known to travel well for bowls and for some regular season games as well. When they play in Austin they sellout their offical allottment and then buy more on ebay and various scalpers.
Terry has it right. This was a good financial move by the Gator Bowl, they will fill the stands and sell a lot of merchandise. Some fans will drive there and back in the same day, but there are a lot of people in Florida where driving there and back while also attending the game will take the whole day. I know Miami fans feel stiffed, however if I was making the decisions for the Gator Bowl I would have done the same thing. I know that normally I wouldn't watch that game with ACC vs Big East, however there is a very good chance I will watch it this time.
I saw where Bowden has declined a position as a "fund" raiser for FSU. I don't blame him, he surely has plenty of money, he's 80, why would he want to hang around FSU and kiss alumni/donors butts? At his age he could be dead in less than 10 years, or even if he lives to be 100 he might not be physically able to travel and do fun things. Dadgumit! I already sort of miss Bobbah Bowden.