Bowl games - whats the point?

Question

There are 119 teams in Division One. 64 of them will be in Bowl games this year. In a number of instances it will cost the "invited" schools ( the NCAA requires invited teams to participate)considerably more money than they will receive (ex.: It will cost Florida State more than 1 million dollars to be in the Emerald Bowl, which pays only $750,000.00) and there is no prestige to be gained in most cases, so why hold the games?

Answer 1

In most cases participation in a bowl game makes money for the schools through attendance, through broadcast rights and through alumni contributions. I agree that if participation were a net money loser, it would make no sense to be in a second tier bowl like the Emerald Bowl, but maybe you are only looking at their share of the gate and not broadcast rights and estimated increased alumni support

Answer 2

A million dollars for Florida State to be in the Emerald Bowl - that is absurd.

Bowl games are like boxing matches. You put two teams together, and try and make it a show.

Money that is won by Florida State goes to the ACC (to be spread equally).

Answer 3

Because in coaches contracts they get money for winning bowls, also they make money from other things not just from the bowl, consider that most schools have thousands of grads and if a team does well a rich alumni will be more willing to give money because he sees his team on tv. And there are other sources of money not just the bowl.

Answer 4

There are two reasons:
1. to milk as much money out of non paid workers as possible
2. To show talent to the NFL

I think very few players are in the NFL that have never been in a bowl game. Even those few players were probably major players in another sport.

Answer 5

Like Paul Crew said: "For the money"