College football games are incredibly popular and bring in massive amounts of viewers for every game. Fans love to support their favorite teams each week and watch them fight for victory.
PV senior Matt Pischke shares his love for college football. “I always make sure to watch Washington play on Saturday’s and support my team,” says Pischke. “I love being able to get together with my friends and spend time watching all the games together.”
Many people love to watch college football games. The most popular game during the 2023 regular season was the Michigan v. Ohio State game, where an incredible 19.07 million people tuned in.
College Football is also a money maker. The Big Ten division alone was responsible for bringing in $845.6 million in revenue in 2022, bringing in more money than all the next 35 college sports combined.
The fans’ love for college football as well as the players’ desire to entertain are brought together at the end of the season to give the fans and players what they want with Bowl games.
A total of 42 bowl games will take place between Dec. 16 and Jan 1, with the national championship game being held on Jan. 8. These bowl games not only give the players one more chance to end the season victorious, but there are also many other benefits about the games.
When a team is placed into a bowl game, they are given full practice rights of 15 hours per week to prepare for the game, as opposed to the off season schedule of eight hours per week. Along with the practice rights, teams also receive massive amounts of money from sponsors.
Bowl games have immense sponsorships. To sponsor one of the bowl games, companies have to fork up anywhere from $500,000 to $30 million. Capital One, for example, paid $25 million dollars to sponsor the Orange Bowl in 2017.
PV senior Rese Bailey feels that bowl game sponsorships can be beneficial to corporations. “I think companies putting their name on one of the bowl games is great for publicity,” said Bailey. “So many people watch the games so it is a great way to get their name out there.”
The most anticipated bowl games are the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. These games determine who will play for the championship game on Jan. 8. “I can’t wait to watch Washington in the playoffs this year,” continued Pischke. “I have high expectations for the games this year.”
Bowl games supporting power five teams are estimated to bring in around $79.41 million in revenue in the 2023-2024 season. People all around the country can’t wait for the upcoming football games with the controversy of the decision of the Final four teams in the playoffs.
