How do "they" choose who goes to a Bowl Game?

Question

I saw that teams like Rice and Troy were going to a Bowl game, even Minnesota (6-6). How do "they" determine who goes to a bowl game. Do you have to have a certain record. I saw that like 7-8 SEC teams went when only like 4 Pac 10 teams went. How do "they" decide

Answer 1

Each conference has a certain number of bowl tie-ins where such-and-such team based on its rank in the conference, if it is bowl-eligible, will go. For instance, the second place team in the Big Ten usually goes to the Capital One Bowl.

What can change the arrangements are two things:
1) Another team from the conference picked for a BCS bowl
2) A team from that conference not having a record good enough to qualify.

Answer 2

To be bowl eligible a school must have 5 victories against Division 1A teams. The school must have at least 6 victories. The school must also have a winning record unless the school is in the bowl as a conference tie in with the bowl they will be playing in. (This is why New Mexico, Alabama, Miami, Florida State, and Minnesota were in Bowl Games) Since the only bowl that has an at large birth is the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the rule about have a winning record is relatively meaningless. Once Bowl eligibility is met, Bowl Games are determined by Conference tie in and intangibles. These intangibles generally boil down to how well a certain school travels. (Which means, how many of their fans fill buy tickets for the game.) A school that travels well will always be picked over one that doesn't. Thus, Notre Dame always gets a better bowl game then their record deserves because their fans are everywhere, and they will always go see the game.

Answer 3

First you have to be bowl eligible, so at least 6 wins I think. Some bowls are tied into a conference. For example, the Capital One Bowl is Big 10 vs. SEC. They also can be tied into places in the conference as well. The Capital One Bowl has the best Big 10 team not in a BCS bowl vs. the best SEC team not in a BCS bowl. Some bowls have at-large bids, however, so they can choose anyone. It's completely dependent on the bowl.

Answer 4

well, you need 6 wins to be bowl-eligible at all. and then each bowl game has affiliations with certain conferences, so the 2nd team from one conference plays the 3rd team from another conference. the BCS takes the winners of the 6 BCS conferences (big xii, big ten, pac-10, sec, big east, acc) and then 4 at-large teams from among the top 12 in the BCS standings. the people who run the bowls typically pick the team that they think will bring the largest contingent to the game, and who will draw the largest tv audience

Answer 5

It depends on the bowl.

To be bowl-eligible you need to have 6 wins, for most schools that means finish .500.

After that bowls have contracts with the conferences (ex: Holiday has one with the Big XII and Pac-10, Rose Bowl has one with the Big 10 and Pac-10, Cotton Bowl has one with the Big XII and SEC, etc). The conferences usually also have a rank of bowls so they send their better teams to nationally watched ones (Ex: Big XII, outside of the chance that they send a team to that national title, goes Fiesta for the Champion.....Cotton for the runner-up....then a mix of Holiday, Alamo, Texas, and the rest of the crappy ones).

Basically it's 6 wins minimum and then a game of money and politics.

Answer 6

You definately have to be above five hundo to be "bowl eligable" after that, each bowl has a committee and they invite what ever team they want to play in it...teams can either accept or decline a bid....teams who participate in the bowl get a certain amount of money as well, so cash certainly plays a factor universities accepting bids.

Answer 7

What ever team will generate the most money for that game...

Answer 8

I don't think anyone knows the answer.