The College Football Playoff, a plague of bowl games? In any case, the number of viewers has never been so high

On Saturday, December 28, Miami quarterback Cam Ward made the unusual decision to sit out the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The topic sparked a firestorm of discussion on social media and had made its way onto ESPN's Pat McAfee Show and FS1's The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Monday.

Days later, we got a better idea of ​​why the story took off: 6.8 million people watched the Pop-Tarts Bowl on ABC, the highest viewership for the Orlando Bowl since 2008, even with a Denver Broncos-Cincinnati Bengals overtime game aired on NFL Network at the same time. The Pop-Tarts Bowl was followed in prime time by the BYU-Colorado Alamo Bowl, which drew 8 million viewers, the largest audience ever recorded. They did so well that they topped the Dec. 21 College Football Playoff first-round SMU-Penn State game on TNT (6.6 million).

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That pair, and others like it, became part of a notable trend in the 2024-2025 bowl season: 21 of the 30 non-Playoff bowls broadcast on an ESPN network through Jan. 2 saw viewership declines year year-on-year, the majority of them by 20 percent or more.

It's a rejection of long-standing concerns that a larger Playoff would reduce interest in the other bowls. The addition of CFP first-round games on the weekend of December 20-21 likely increased viewership for the games played in the ten days between those games and the quarterfinals by keeping college football in the conversation longer.

People want to see more college football, said Steve Hogan, CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, which operates the Citrus and Pop-Tarts bowls. If people were wondering if fans wouldn't be interested (in the non-CFP bowls), that question was answered in recent weeks.

Completely so.

The Dec. 31 MichiganAlabama ReliaQuest Bowl (6.5 million) drew ESPN's largest non-New Years Six bowl audience in nine years. Texas TechArkansas on December 27 had the most watched Liberty Bowl (4.2 million) in nine years. NebraskaBoston College on December 28 was the most watched Pinstripe Bowl (4.2 million) since 2013.

All this despite NFL opt-outs, departures from the transfer portal and, in some cases, interim coaches.

“I have always been confident that bowl game viewership would remain strong,” said Nick Carparelli, executive director of Bowl Season, the collective association of each bowl game. But I think this year's ratings surprised a lot of people.

But while bowl viewership is up, in-person attendance at many games has gone in the opposite direction.

The Gator Bowl, which for decades drew more than 50,000 people, had 31,290 people in the stands during last week's Ole Miss-Duke game. And the Holiday Bowl, which was shrunk to San Diego States Snapdragon Stadium this season, drew the smallest crowd (23,920) in the bowls' 46-year history for a game between Syracuse and Washington State.

To make ends meet you need a respectable crowd, and every now and then there was a crowd like the Alamo Bowl (64,261), said Greg McGarity, Gator Bowl president/CEO. If you don't have at least one team within a six-hour drive, you'll struggle to attend.

However, in the future that may not have as much of an impact on bowls as it does now.

All parties recognize that most non-CFP bowls are now primarily televised, which may ultimately require a different business model. All current 41 bowl contracts are in accordance with the CFPs, which expire with the 2025 season. ESPN has already reached a six-year extension with the CFP, but the other bowls deals will be extended in the coming year. All but the Sun Bowl (CBS) and Holiday Bowl (Fox) have ESPN as a partner.

That network will have to decide how much value it places on the non-CFP bowls, which generally bring in larger audiences than any non-NFL programming that airs during the holidays.

The spectacular success of Bowl sponsorships Pop-Tarts and Dukes Mayo has raised hopes that title sponsorships will grow in value. Until recently, most brands saw minimal returns on their investments, leaving the revolving door of sponsors to provide the majority of bowls.

Conferences may also need to reevaluate their bowl relationships. Each of the four power leagues has different regulations; For example, the Big 12s' bowl affiliates have free rein to select which eligible team they want, the SEC effectively assigns the schools based on their preferences. For example, the Gator Bowl heavily favored 7-5 Florida, which would have sold significantly more tickets, but the league sent 9-3 Ole Miss, whose fans likely viewed the game as a disappointment.

I would like to see more flexibility in the selection process, Carparelli said. If you go back in time, the strict conference bowl tie-ins didn't exist. Everyone was a free agent every year. I almost feel like the system is ready to be turned around again.

So far, there is no indication that any of the current bowls are going out of business. Jon Lewis, who runs the TV ratings site Sports Media Watch, recently tweeted a very different possibility:

Everything indicates that there is a demand for more bowls. I think you can get away with at least 4-5 bowls. I don't really think there is a limit to the amount of college football people want to watch.

Carparelli agrees, but points to the reality that there wouldn't be enough eligible teams to fill them. This season there were exactly 82 teams with six wins for 82 spots, the minimum number of victorious games required for bowl eligibility.

Practically speaking, we were exactly at the right number, he said. But from a fan interest standpoint, I don't think you can have too many bowl games.

(Photo: Ronald Cortes/Getty)