Chapters 4 and 5 are the meat of the book. These chapters about bowl games are worth the cover price by themselves. The authors dig up so much valuable information about bowl games, payouts, and the bowl game leaders and present it so effectively that it really got my blood boiling. Simply astonishing. They make loose connections to how these things are related to the BCS and how the BCS is the cause of such malfeasance, but they are indirect at best and have been happening since before the BCS existed. If you read only 2 chapters in Death to the BCS, read these!
The authors present real facts and figures about bowl payouts and executive salaries and hopefully these chapters will inspire some real action. As a student of a university that went to several mid-tier bowl games, and as a fan of the sport in general, it is very disappointing to read about how these universities are, literally, throwing money away. The combination of what schools are forced to pay and what the executive directors of these bowl games “earn” as a salary is depressing. Schools are on the hook for so many unused tickets, must pay for all of the travel expenses, and receive so little money as a “payout” that I simply can't believe this practice still goes on. My sincere hope is that every university president and athletic director reads these two chapters carefully and makes decisions to change their ways. These bowls games are costing the universities too much money, and that excess money is going into the pockets of the bowl directors.
There are too many bowl games. The current situation is that simple. As much as I love how the BCS system rewards excellence if you aspire to make the championship game, the bowl selection process is the exact opposite. No system does a better job of rewarding mediocrity, even a poor season, than the bowl games. And, as the authors point out, few things are as unprofitable as going to bowl games, which makes you wonder why teams continue to obsess over the events. We hear coaches constantly say about how bowl games are great for their program, but maybe they insist on going simply because it fattens their wallet and increases their stature. That may sound callous, but these coaches are still people with families to feed, assistant coaches to reward, and resumes to build. There is no reason that a football program should be working to earn a trip to a bowl game and then be “rewarded” by losing money. Tax-payers and donors should be disgusted at how their funds are being used.
The authors do a great job of exposing the injustice of the bowl executive directors. I can't begin to understand how these guys “earn” six-figure salaries. It is appalling. What do they do? The description of how little these people do honestly made me consider if I could organize a bowl game. I can't imagine that it is a very difficult thing to do, yet they “earn” hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it. Ugh.
The bottom line is simple and, thanks to the authors, the facts are out there now. The only answer is to stop going to bowl games when they don't make sense. There is no excuse for fans/alumni/donors to ignore the injustices of bowl games any longer. In many cases, there is no benefit to going to bowl games, yet teams continue to attend, feed the beast, and lose money. With the information provided, teams can now reasonably determine that going to a bowl game is not always the right decision. Stop going to the lesser bowl games and losing money. Doing that will eliminate those lesser bowl games altogether and make going to a bowl more meaningful. A 6-6 team doesn't deserve to go to a bowl game. A team that only wins half of its games (with one of those wins likely coming at the hands a I-AA team) does not deserve to be rewarded. And it certainly didn't earn the right to throw money away.
Dan, Josh and Jeff, thank you for these facts. I hope they will transform the sport.
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