Four new bowls apply for 2015-16 certifications, potentially bringing total to 43
Posted by Zach Barnett on April 1, 2015, 6:18 PM ED
It's kind of funny, really. The reason given for so long that a College Football Playoff could not exist - eventual bracket creep that would inevitably ruin bowl season - has already consumed the bowl industry.
According to ESPN's Brett McMurphy - the Edward R. Murrow of the bowl industry - the 2015-16 bowl season could have as many as 43 games after Orlando, Fla., Austin, Tex., Tucson, Ariz., and Little Rock, Ark., applied for certifications ahead of the NCAA deadline.
Forty-three bowl games equates to 86 teams. That's more than two-thirds of FBS membership and well above the number of annual eligible teams based on current qualification standards. "Wednesday was the deadline for cities seeking to add a new bowl. The NCAA will make a decision in a few weeks whether to approve the games," McMurphy notes.
Added an anonymous source: "As long as the standard to go to a bowl remains 6-6, commissioners will be pressured to have bowl games for all their conference teams to play in. That's why you keep seeing more and more bowls added."
The American Athletic Conference is the main source for the push. If each of the new games is approved, McMurphy notes, the AAC will have slots for nine of its 12 teams. So what we're talking about is games between a 6-6 Temple and a a 6-6 Middle Tennessee.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/01/four-new-bowls-apply-for-2015-16-certifications-potentially-bringing-total-to-43/
Posted by Zach Barnett on April 1, 2015, 6:18 PM ED
It's kind of funny, really. The reason given for so long that a College Football Playoff could not exist - eventual bracket creep that would inevitably ruin bowl season - has already consumed the bowl industry.
According to ESPN's Brett McMurphy - the Edward R. Murrow of the bowl industry - the 2015-16 bowl season could have as many as 43 games after Orlando, Fla., Austin, Tex., Tucson, Ariz., and Little Rock, Ark., applied for certifications ahead of the NCAA deadline.
Forty-three bowl games equates to 86 teams. That's more than two-thirds of FBS membership and well above the number of annual eligible teams based on current qualification standards. "Wednesday was the deadline for cities seeking to add a new bowl. The NCAA will make a decision in a few weeks whether to approve the games," McMurphy notes.
Added an anonymous source: "As long as the standard to go to a bowl remains 6-6, commissioners will be pressured to have bowl games for all their conference teams to play in. That's why you keep seeing more and more bowls added."
The American Athletic Conference is the main source for the push. If each of the new games is approved, McMurphy notes, the AAC will have slots for nine of its 12 teams. So what we're talking about is games between a 6-6 Temple and a a 6-6 Middle Tennessee.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/01/four-new-bowls-apply-for-2015-16-certifications-potentially-bringing-total-to-43/
