ThatFan.com — Are You That Fan?

Many people argue that there are way too many bowl games in college football.  This year there are 34 separate bowl games, meaning 68 of the 120 division 1A (or the FBS as some people are calling it now) teams will be competing in the post-season.  That Fan views more bowl games as more football, which is never a bad thing.

Attendance at these bowl games can be across the board with several different factors impacting the turnout of each team’s fans.  Here are a look at a few of these factors:

#1:  Location/distance of the bowl game

Let’s face it, if a team such as South Florida were to play in the Hawaii Bowl, they won’t be getting much of a fan following due to the distance.  However, if that same USF team were to play in the Outback Bowl which takes place on their home field, they could pack the place.

You should also take the size of the venue into consideration.  If you’re playing in a 40,000 seat stadium vs. a 100,000 seat stadium, you’ve got a lot of room to work with on getting more fans there.

Another factor in the location is the weather.  Would you rather attend the Orange Bowl in sunny and warm Miami, or would you rather head to the International Bowl in cold and dreary Canada?

While warm weather is preferred, the warmth alone won’t cut it. A bowl game in a major city such as Miami will typically fare better than a game in a place such as San Antonio, home of the Alamo Bowl.  This isn’t a knock on San Antonio, it just doesn’t have as much to offer as cities such as Tampa and Orlando.  Along these same lines, a bowl in a bigger city means more people that live in that city are likely to make it, even if they aren’t a fan of either team (now that’s a REAL fan!).

#2:  The “What have you done for me lately” factor

Did your team just go undefeated and find itself playing in the Sugar Bowl (Cincinnati), or did your team have it’s worst year in quite a while and end up in the lowly Emerald Bowl (USC)?  Earlier in the decade UC was playing in the likes of the Motor City Bowl and the Fort Worth Bowl, whereas they are now playing in a top BCS bowl.  On the other hand you have USC who has been to multiple Rose Bowls and a couple of BCS Championship games this decade.

All of the sudden you have a rapidly expanding UC bandwagon and more people claiming “I’ve had seats at Nippert Stadium since the 80’s” than there are seats, and USC fans jumping off the bandwagon faster than you can say “Joe McKnight’s SUV”.   Basically what I’m saying here is that more UC fans than average want to travel to their bowl game this year, whereas less USC fans feel the same way.

#3:  Who are you playing?

Playing against an exciting and well-known team will always add to the mystique of a bowl game.  Would you rather play 6-6 Iowa State or the #1 team in college football, Alabama?  To put it another way, if you’re a Boise State fan are you more excited about playing Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl as you did in 2007 (which Boise won by the way), or playing in the same bowl game this year against TCU?  This is not a knock on TCU, but Oklahoma’s name alone says it all.

#4:  How big is your school?

Southern Methodist University is a private school with an enrollment of approximately 11,000 students.  The University of Central Florida is one of the largest schools in the country with an enrollment of approximately 53,000 students.  Which team has the better chance of sending more fans to their respective bowl game this year?  If you guessed “B” you are correct.  Larger enrollment means more students who can travel, and a larger alumni base to make the trip as well.

With all this talk of bowl game attendance, here are current attendance figures for the 15 bowl games played to date.  I’ll do another summary after all of the games are over so that you can see the figures for each of the games (the winner of each game is listed first).

1.)  Holiday Bowl (Nebraska vs. Arizona):  64,607
2.) Music City Bowl (Clemson vs. Kentucky):  57,280
3.) Champs Sports Bowl (Wisconsin vs. Miami): 56,747
4.) Meineke Car Care Bowl (Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina): 50,389
5.) Independence Bowl (Georgia vs. Texas Tech): 49,653
6.) Emerald Bowl (USC vs. Boston College): 40,121
7.) Las Vegas Bowl (BYU vs. Oregon State): 40,018
8.) Poinsettia Bowl (Utah vs. California): 32,665
9.) Hawaii Bowl (Southern Methodist vs. Nevada): 32,650
10.) Little Caesars Bowl (Marshall vs. Ohio): 30,311
11.) New Orleans Bowl (Middle Tenn. St. vs. Southern Miss): 30,228
12.) St. Petersburg Bowl (Rutgers vs. Central Florida): 29,763
13.) Humanitarian Bowl (Idaho vs. Bowling Green):  26,726
14.) New Mexico Bowl (Wyoming vs. Fresno State):  24,898
15.) EagleBank Bowl (UCLA vs. Temple):  23,072