ESPN Doesn’t Care That Nobody Attended These Bowl Games

As we already know, not every college football bowl game enjoys the glory and prestige of the BCS, but wait till you see the types of low attendance numbers at some of the contests below.

I get it, not every non-BCS game can be the Capital One Bowl or Cotton Bowl.  Yes, ESPN televises these sub par bowls, but it goes without saying that some of these  games are anything but compelling in terms of entertainment.  One would think that at least a small portion of a university’s alumni base would travel to see their Alma Mater play in the post season, but turns out maybe not so much.

Here are the low attendance numbers for select bowl games which nobody gave a crap about this season:

New Mexico Bowl – 25,672
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – 28,076
Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl – 20,072
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – 24,607
Military Bowl – 25,042
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl – 29,878

image credit businessinsider.com

Guess who doesn’t really care though? ESPN.  The “worldwide leader in sports” has the rights to broadcast 33 of the 35 bowl games this season among their four networks (ABC,ESPN,ESPN2,ESPNU).  You can even watch most of the games online at ESPN3.com.

It’s no secret the worldwide leader has stockpiles of cash invested in the bowl game system, leaving only the Cotton Bowl (Fox) and Sun Bowl (CBS) out of their grasp.  You think maybe ESPN has a tiny invisible hand at play in the current BCS system which the NCAA likes to protect?

Take a look at the chart below…just a little food for thought.

image credit businessinsider.com

Raju Kansagra
Raju is a former Wall St. trader turned renaissance man living and working in the New York City area. He graduated from Boston College with degrees in Finance and Philosophy. Born and raised in NJ, he's traveled the globe. He's an ambitious entrepreneur who has worked with some of the brightest minds in business, IT, medicine, real estate, hospitality, law, finance, and most importantly college sports.