College Bowl Season Should Be Shortened, Critics Say

While most students are enjoying a break from classes

, colleges and universities throughout the country are basking in the national spotlight that accompanies bowl season.

With 35 games on the 2010-2011 bowl schedule, students have plenty of football to watch during their hiatus from college courses. However, many people have criticized the current format for including too many postseason games, which takes away the luster of playing in a bowl. As of December 28, 11 bowl games had been played, with only one featuring two teams that are nationally ranked.

A recent column on FoxNews.com says that the current bowl season has been "downright awful." The editorial offered four suggestions to make the bowl schedule more appealing to the common fan who has no direct affiliation to any of the 70 colleges or universities who play between December 18 and January 10.

The news provider recommended that if college football officials want to have 35 games, they should condense them to a shorter stretch, as opposed to a three-week-plus schedule.

"The networks, the bowls and the advertisers have gotten fat on the money that a stretched-out bowl schedule can garner," reads the FoxNews.com editorial. "In the process, though, fans have become the biggest losers."

Although several sources profit off the beefed-up bowl schedule, Bloomberg News reports that some of the participating colleges and universities actually lose money. The media outlet found that at least 13 schools spent more to play in a bowl game last year than their respective conferences received in compensation.

For example, Rutgers University accrued a $740,000 bill last year in its trip to the St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida, according to Bloomberg. When the game's payouts don't match the team's expenses, every school in the team's respective conference has to help foot the bill.

Bowls have become network-owned, commercial enterprises, in some cases, pitting average teams in money-losing bowls for the benefit of a few, Charles Young, president emeritus at the University of Florida, told the news provider. I think the losses are higher than anyone knows.

As taxpayer subsidies for athletic departments continue to rise, millions of dollars are being lost by certain colleges and universities every bowl season. Wright Waters, the league commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, told the news source that the bowl games are not about profit, but they are intended to help promote schools and give athletes a chance to compete in postseason play.

by: Guy Montag

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