Well, now. This is a bit of a surprise.
An NCAA audit report of bowl games released last week shows that every Football Bowl Subdivision conference received more money from 2012-13 bowl payouts than their schools paid on bowl expenses.
The 35 bowls distributed $300.8 million last year to conferences, who negotiate deals on behalf of their teams, and schools reported spending $90.3 million on bowl trips. According to the NCAA report, bowls received $445.6 million in gross receipts and spent 26 percent of it on operating expenses. Bowls retained 7 percent of the receipts.
“The perception is out there that schools are losing money going to bowl games and the reality is that’s not true,” said Wright Waters, executive director of the Football Bowls Association. “Bowls strike deals with conferences, and there very well may be issues that conferences are not giving them a big enough allowance to go to the bowl. But at the end of the day, the conferences are still distributing money at the end of the year.”
In case you’re wondering, “every” conference includes each one of the mid-majors.
So much for the screaming about how the bowls were scamming the conferences to the point of making them run their postseasons in the red. But at least they got those pesky ticket allotment requirements lowered. That’s good news, right? Well, maybe not so much.
However, Waters raised concerns about lower guaranteed ticket allotments, particularly for games not associated with the College Football Playoff. There will be six high-profile bowls next year, not four, once the playoff starts: Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A.
Lower guaranteed ticket allotments “will probably create some problems with teams who travel well and who may not get tickets,” Waters said. “Fans will have to pay scalper prices. Bowls will probably try to sell their tickets locally.”
Some days it seems like the only constant in college football is hoovering more money out of fans’ wallets… okay, every day.
Get The Picture 
Unless it is the MNC or the rare local team playing at home (e.g. LSU in the Sugar or UGA in the Peach), scalper prices are always less than face. The fans not getting tickets through the allotment will generally be better off.
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In addition, the tickets allotted to each school’s fanbase generally suck in terms of location. The only advantage is sitting amongst other alum. So generally you’re MUCH better off buying from a scalper.
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Agree 100% … I wrote McGarity a letter a few years back to this effect. Told him I’d not buy bowl tixs fro, UGA until they resolve this issue … and I’ve not.
Will attend the Gator bowl … bought tixs on StubHub
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We want our CF to be profitable for our Universities. Bowl Season is the time to rake it in. It is like going to the Circus…it just comes around once a year, so we might as well pay the price. Taking our Children to the Circus, even in B’ham was a $200 evening.and that was back in the Nineties.
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My son and I discussed going to Jax (he from Orlando, us from Birmingham). Decided we didn’t “want” to spend the kind of money it would take for a shit bowl game. Unless and until the post season gets more interesting (my guess is it won’t), i’m pretty much checked out. Anyone else feeling the same?
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My daughter is a sophomore at UGA and my son is a senior at Clemson. The whole family will spend New Years on SSI while we ALL go to the Gator Bowl and then on Friday my son and i are flying down to Miami for the Orange Bowl where i hope to see Clemson kick Urban’s fanny. This bowl season is generating some solid family father/daughter/son bonding for me and i love it!!
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“Waters said it’s a misnomer that bowls force schools to buy the tickets, noting that it’s a contractually-obligated number that’s negotiated. By brokering ticket deals with conferences, bowls lose inventory to sell even in good years when tickets could have been sold at a higher amount, Waters said.”
Nice circular logic there, Waters. Because the ticket demand for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is such a double edged sword.
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“Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton… and CHICK-FIL-A?!
I like CFA as much as anyone, but we need to go back to calling it the Peach Bowl.
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How many times have I said that?
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Could not agree more. If you want to be a big boy bowl, you should have to do away with the corporate name. Calling the Rose Bowl the “Vizio Bowl” or the Fiesta Bowl the “Tostito’s Bowl” would sound ridiculous.
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To be fair, the Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl basically pulled this off already.
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“There will be six high-profile bowls next year, not four, once the playoff starts: Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A.”…. The Chick-Fil-A just doesn’t seem to fit on that list. Is it true that they’re going to have to change the name back to the Peach Bowl if they want to be one of the big six bowls? Also, I know it’s a common feeling, but I’m just floored by the fact that we’re getting Nebraska again in the bowl game. On Sunday morning when the rumor was that we were going to play Miami in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, I was already making plans to go. When I heard it was going to be Nebraska again, I didn’t even feel like watching. (But I know I will)
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What do bowl executives do for work the other 11 months our of the year when their jobs aren’t relevant? I’m not even trying to be particularly snarky, here, I am genuinely curious.
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Sell secondary sponsorship. Do PR on behalf of the bowl. Lobby for better commitments from better conferences. My guess anyway.
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This is one stupid sentence:
” But at the end of the day, the conferences are still distributing money at the end of the year.”
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