[NU Sports] So I guess Texas Tech ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> The game last night posted the
> highest overnight metered market rating
> (16.1) in cable TV history and will likely become the most

True - but it was a big drop from the 18.2 of last year's game that was essentially over after the first drive when McCoy went out hurt.

My point, I guess, is where is the money coming from in this house of cards? If ESPN paid more than Fox for it yet gets considerably lower ratings ... and if most stadiums are half empty and most games drop in ratings because of the glut of 6-6 MAC teams ... sooner or later someone is gonna be left holding the empty bag. And when the networks can't afford to overpay for lower ratings on the B(C)S, maybe some of these forgettable bowls will drop out. Hopefully.

It just seems pointless to me - you overpay for less ratings and less gate, driving away fans by giving them bowl overload - pretty soon it's gonna collapse. A day of bowls or a week of bowls as sustainable - but this year was the longest and most bloated ever and it will only get worse as long as ESPN and the B(C)S keep feeding the monster.

I mean honestly folks, how many bowl games did you watch? How many were interesting in that you can tell me something about them? How many of them were well played?

Like I said, I only watched the Dallas Bowl and Rose Bowl in depth - our game wasn't well played, but was exciting. The Rose Bowl may have been the best played game of the season but had low ratings still. Meanwhile the only other two games I saw large chunks of - the Outback Bowl and B(C)S Bowl - were horrendously sloppy in turnovers, stupid penalties/plays and more. Not the usual college excitement we get during the regular season. And the crowds (usually half empty) at bowls seem to be in a trance. The excitement's gone. The four NFL games this weekend all had more "college like" crowds in a frenzy and were more exciting (aside from the Baltimore blowout).

I'm just curious to see how long this charade will last. They can tout the "highest cable ratings ever" but put them side by side with past games and it's a big dropoff. Will they overpay next time? And if they don't, what will happen to the bowls feeding off the overspending? We'll see.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT