Only until recently, the journey to a bowl game (let alone be mentioned in bowl discussion) was a lot more challenging than it is today. What once stood as six bowl games total, has increased to a whopping 40 post-season games, including the newest addition of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. The once strict eligibility requirements that a team had to meet to even be considered in receiving an invite to a bowl game has become so lax, that nowadays it seems like every team is playing in a bowl game! A total of 80 of 128 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams have been given the opportunity to play in games such as the Playstation Fiesta Bowl, the AutoNation Cure Bowl, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (talk about a mouthful…), and the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.

Each year I’ve noticed the names of these bowls turn into commercial names. Even the oldest bowl around, the Rose Bowl, is now called the Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual. And with the increasing amount of bowl games, it makes me question the NCAA’s intentions. Was the addition of bowl games to give more athletes a chance to compete on a “big stage,” or was this the NCAA’s doing to make bank off of bowl game sponsors?

While I hate to think that the NCAA cares more about profit than the student-athletes, the increase in bowls from the original six, to today’s 40 games has made me question their actions. After all, revenue of 40 bowls is greater than the revenue of only six bowls…

Corporate sponsors have quickly taken advantage of the opportunity to sponsor bowls, seeking it as a way to increase their own revenue through advertisement; it would no longer be called the Peach Bowl, but instead the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl— if I didn’t follow football, I’d probably think the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl was a new meal on Chick-Fil-A’s menu! With the easy access to sponsoring these games, it’s no wonder the bowls seem to increase every year; post-season bowls have turned into nothing but an easy way for companies to gain brand recognition. The popularity of using this tactic for businesses has become so popular, that the NCAA has sometimes been forced to fill in bowl slots with mediocre teams whose season record doesn't even fulfill bowl eligibility requirements— and with that, the quality of the games decrease. But hey, at least someone’s making money off of it!

My observations on these bowl games have really made me question the NCAA’s intentions. Are these games for the kids, or is it for the money? In the meantime, I’ll just find entertainment and humor with bowls such as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl— because who doesn’t like a sponsorship that reinforces the stereotypes of Idaho’s people?!