Don’t even say it out loud.
Even with the addition of three more bowl games for the 2015-16 season, there aren’t too many bowl games. Remember, more football is always a good thing.
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This year’s schedule now features 42 bowl games, including the College Football Playoff championship. That means 82 of the 127 teams in the FBS will be required to fill those bowl spots.
Hey, it’s still better-than-average holiday television. There were worthwhile moments in 2014, including that crazy bunch of laterals at the end of the Bahamas Bowl between Central Michigan and Western Kentucky.
A 42-game bowl schedule, however, comes with a few challenges. Here are the four things that need addressed.
Below .500 teams
It’s simple math here. A total of 81 teams met the six-win requirement in 2014, though Texas State (7-5), Ohio (6-6), UAB (6-6) and Temple (6-6) were not invited to the postseason. Adding three more bowl games means everybody should get invited, but it’s almost a virtual certainty a 5-7 team will play in the postseason in 2015. That’s hardly worth a reward. Will the NCAA lower the win requirement as a result?
Attendance
How will that affect attendance? CBSsports.com reported bowl attendance for the 35 returning bowls in 2014 was down four percent, and FBSchedules.com tracked nine bowls that had less than 30,000 in attendance last season. Bowl games should be subject to meeting attendance requirements moving forward, and 30,000 is a good starting point.
Fill rate
FBSchedules.com also tracks fill rate, or the percentage attendance that fills a stadium. You don’t want to look at all those empty seats, right? Five bowls last season had a fill rate of less than 50 percent. Travel is a factor, but Power 5 schools with large fanbases should be able to beat 50 percent at all times. There’s no excuse for that.
TV ratings
Here’s the biggest potential problem with more bowl games. Forbes reported a total of 16 bowl games last season had a Nielsen rating of 2.0 or lower. Six of those bowl games featured at least one Power 5 school, so generating interest isn’t strictly a Group of 5 issue.
That’s the trick moving forward. Will more bowls equal more interest? Probably not. Will this generate more discussion about expanding the College Football Playoff? Yes. That’s already happening.
It’s still better-than-average holiday television viewing. Remember, more football is always a good thing.
