Too Many Bowls, or Is It the Recession?

In the bowl business, it was a postseason to forget.

Nearly two-thirds of the postseason games saw a decline in attendance, with some events having their numbers fall by more than 20% from 2007.

We've charted the attendance figures of 32 of the 34 bowls, comparing the 2008 and 2007 numbers. The data comes from SportsBusiness Daily. The EagleBank and St. Petersburg bowls were not included because this was their first year of existence.

The Motor City Bowl in Detroit featuring Central Michigan and Florida Atlantic had a stunning attendance dip of 19,225 (31.7%). Michigan, we might add, has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 9.6%.

The Orange Bowl saw a dip of 21.9% and the Music City was off by 21%.

Not all the news was bad.

The Meineke featuring West Virginia and North Carolina saw its attendance increase by 38.7%. The Cotton was up 20.6% and the Hawaii experienced a stunning 42.7% increase. That, in part, is because of the drawing power of Notre Dame, which played Hawaii in the Dec. 24 game. That game also saw it's TV ratings increase by 100%.

The Emerald, fueled by the appearance of California from across the bay, was up 30%. The International had a spike of 27.8%.

Comments

[sckego]

"...and the Hawaii experienced a stunning 42.7% increase. That is likely because of the drawing power of Notre Dame, which played Hawaii in the Dec. 24 game."

I hope you're joking. The increase was because, um, HAWAII was playing in the game, whereas last year they were a few thousand miles away in the Sugar Bowl. Having the home team play in the bowl will do far more for attendance numbers then ND.

[BCSGame]

According to these numbers, BCS title game had an increase. Either there is a typo or miscalculation.

[DZ]

Also, remember that the BCS title game was played in a different city and stadium than last season.

[longhornpharm.d]

Keep in mind that the Cotton bowl just underwent a major renovation with the addition of several thousand seats. That should account for some of the increase there.

[Jay Christensen]

The BCS 2007 number was incorrect and the fix has been made. Thanks for that.

I also amended the Notre Dame comment to reflect TV ratings, which spiked 100%. You are correct that attendance-wise, the game was on par to the 2006 game, which also featured Hawaii. Still, I would argue the 2008 game would have not been the draw it was without Notre Dame.

[Mike D]

I'm not sure what statistical significance this is. The attendance figures reflect more about the particular matchup and whether the fans of each respective school can travel the distance, as well as other factors. That is so individual that comparing different teams in the same bowl from one year to the next is meaningless. Also, the BCS title game isn't even in the same stadium, so that's certainly apples to oranges. So, this makes for a pretty chart -- but, so what?