On the Future of the MAC, Mid-Majors, and Bowl Games.

[NWLB]

Would an Indiana be considered ahead of a group of Mid-major programs like UT, Akron, Miami, Marshall, and BG?

Some of those teams IU would be picked ahead of, but not all of them, and only if it were a semi local game, with a decent and marketable story behind IU's season.

Lets jump to a pure hypothetical example since it helps make the point more clear. IU playing at the RCA dome, is a bigger story in Indiana, even if a BGSU might bring more fans.

However, in a year like this, talking about a game like the SVB, assuming IU could go to a bowl, compared to BGSU, they are not going to get picked first. BGSU is the much more marketable team in that game, vs. IU.

Would BGSU draw more fans than IU? That to me is hard to say because I don't think either team will draw a lot of its own fans to the SVB. This isn't a hard and fast thing. Some bowls, in some years, in some locations are going to have different priorities, and view teams through different criteria depending on the situation.

On balance however, the likely fan following of a team is secondary to the marketability of the team itself. Getting fans to attend the game is something dealt with based on the hand the game is given. This is true exactly because the bowls don't always have a choice of who plays in their game and they must prepare accordingly.

Bowls can deal with smaller fan followings. What they dread, and seek to avoid at all costs, are games with absolutely no marketability.

Since their first couple of years, Marshall draws well even though their home games haven't sold out in recent years, and their fans were apathetic to the MAC. You mentioned it, but frankly its already been true for several years, yet not hurt their draw in the GMAC bowl.

So even a 6-5 Herd squad would draw well. Why aren't they a hot contender for a bowl? Because there just isn't any marketable spin on that team this year.

I didn't say that fan followings weren't a factor in the past. I am saying they are not the major determining factor now. There was a time, just a matter of five or six years ago, when media types argued that bowls wouldn't draw viewers, but even if only a few million folks watch any low end bowl, that is still much better for the networks selling the game, than professional pool tournaments.

Some MAC games and Bowl games have drawn exceptional ratings. Why? Its not how many of their fans showed up. Its the story behind the game. Bowls that can draw hot stories like that, sell that to sponsors, the TV networks, etc. Why? Because it is about the dollars, period, as you said. A bowl that can lock a hot story like BG, or Miami, or even UT or Marshall, into their game, uses that to sell sponsors. They did not and do not worry about how many of the schools fans show up.

Do you seriously think the SVB things a school with a 15,000 fan home average is going to to bring 20,000 fans? 10,000 fans? Even 5,000 fans? They aren't going to depend on it. But they sure can hype the game locally. Yes that is related to people in the seats, but not the ones flying from Ohio.

It is not about how many fans we bring.