Celebrating the Game of College Football
Bowl Season continues to hold an important place on the American sports calendar as one of our countries greatest and longest running traditions. It promotes the game of college football by providing meaningful experiences and life-long memories for players, coaches, fans, universities and communities across the country. I continue to be honored and privileged to promote the bowl system, and to share the stories that make Bowl Season so unique.
This year we crowned 42 bowl champions, including three programs winning their first bowl game ever. We saw those winning head coaches receive celebratory showers of sports drinks, condiments, snacks and breakfast cereals. These games gave many young players one last chance to put on a football uniform and compete, while providing others their first opportunity to have a meaningful impact on the field and gave the fans a glimpse of next year’s stars.
As always, our goal is to bring value to the Bowl Season membership by promoting the entire bowl system as well as the game of college football. Last year we were able to build momentum around several of our recently created initiatives. The Bowl Season Stories podcast featured some fantastic guests, while our social media campaigns garnered more attention than ever before. The Bowl Bound shirt program also grew in popularity, bringing sustainability to the celebration around student-athletes and their teams earning bowl eligibility.
playoff and for the majority of teams who will benefit from the bowl game experience to close out a successful season.
Our television viewership continues to thrive. This past year the 43 postseason games averaged 4.4 million viewers per telecast; 28 games had more than two million viewers, 18 had more than three million and 10 had more than four million. That outrates any alternative sports television programming (other than the NFL) during December and January. In addition, more than 1.5 million people attended bowl games live in person.
Thank you to everyone who helps make our bowl games happen. It is all due to the tireless efforts of the bowl organizations and their conference partners who recognize how meaningful bowl games are to everyone involved.
Bowl Season is truly an annual celebration of college football, and we look forward to celebrating this great game for many years to come.
We continue to maintain a high level of communication with the leaders of college football. Bowl Season has an important role to play in the expansion to a 12-team College Football Playoff this coming 2024 season. It is important to us all that we continue to work collaboratively with the commissioners of the FBS conferences to ensure that Bowl Season remains a meaningful component of the college football season, both within an expanded
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
Nick Carparelli Executive Director Bowl SeasonEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Steve
Military Bowl presented by GoBowling.com John
Jeff Siembieda
Missy
Bowl Season is an annual celebration of college football.
Bowl Season promotes the game of college football by providing meaningful experiences and life-long memories for players, coaches, fans, universities and communities across the country.
VISION MISSION GAME PLAN
The Association
Bowl Season serves as the collective association of every college football bowl game and serves its membership by focusing on:
• Communication and advocacy with the stakeholders in college football.
• Creating operational efficiencies by expanding business relationships, forming strategic partnerships and enhancing professional development opportunities.
• Revenue generation through corporate partnerships and the creation & development of new assets.
The Time of Year
Bowl Season is a time of year when American sports fans celebrate the game of college football. Beginning in mid-December and running through early January, we use this platform to:
• Communicate how meaningful bowl games are to everyone involved by acting as the leading voice for college football’s postseason.
• Market the games and sport to the millions of fans who love college football through strategic and creative initiatives.
• Promote the value that bowl games provide to the sport, its stakeholders, participants and host communities.
2023-24 Bowl Season
EXPERIENCED BY:
including the Celebration Bowl, East-West Shrine Bowl and the National Championship
STUDENT-ATHLETES PARTICPATED
1.54M FANS IN ATTENDANCE 10K+
2023-24 Final Standings
Progressive Bowl Challenge Cup | Created by CONF. (Bowl Teams) RECORD
190M TELEVISION VIEWERS
6-4 Record
The Big Ten won the 2023-24 Progressive Bowl Challenge Cup, posting a winning percentage of .600 with a 6-4 record during Bowl Season. Created in 2002 by ESPN as a competition among the 10 FBS conferences during college football’s postseason, the Big Ten claims its third title this season (2002-03, 2017-18).
Celebration Showers
The Gatorade shower tradition originated on the sidelines of the New York Giants with nose tackle Jim Burt and head coach Bill Parcells during the 1984 NFL season. With Bowl Season serving as an annual celebration of college football, it's only fitting that bowl games have tweaked this time-honored tradition to fit their unique brands.
Most exciting bowl finish?
How about the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl where Jacksonville State scored a game-tying TD with 1:46 left and then beat Louisiana on a 27-yard field goal in overtime by Garrison Rippa.
Biggest Comback Win
The most improbable comeback unfolded at the Famous Toastery Bowl in Charlotte when Old Dominion ran out to a 28-0 lead before Western Kentucky stormed back. Quarterback Caden Veltkamp went to work, throwing five TD passes including one to tie the game at 35-35 with just :19 seconds left. A 29-yard field goal gave the Hilltoppers a memorable win.
Craziest Quarter
Few quarters were as crazy as the fourth of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville. Kentucky led Clemson, 21-10, but the two teams exploded from there. The Wildcats scored two touchdowns, but Clemson rang up three TD’s and two field goals to rally for a 38-35 shootout victory.
Three FBS programs secured their first bowl win during the 2023-24 Bowl Season
Jacksonville State won the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, 34-31 over in-state favorite Louisiana, in its second year transitioning from FCS to FBS. Texas State played in its first ever bowl game, the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, a 45-21 victory over Rice. Lastly, the Roadrunners of UTSA registered the programs’ first bowl win 35-17 over Marshall in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl.
The College Football Playoff Foundation and ESPN Citizenship teamed up with Bowl Season to award teachers at local schools with $1,000 every time a touchdown was scored during the 2023-24 bowl season. More than $400,000 has been invested in education thanks to the initiative. The success of the partnership and culmination of the newest initiative was celebrated at Playoff Fan Central as part of a touchdown dance photo booth, teacher appreciation wall, and a special in-game presentation during the National Championship.
BY THE NUMBERS
283
TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS SCORED
624 TEACHERS SUPPORTED
$400K
AMOUNT DONATED On behalf of Extra Yard for Teachers, ESPN, and Bowl Season.
Bowl Season was a topic of conversation as a mainstay tradition amid a myriad of changes that college football is going through (College Football Playoff expansion, NIL, etc.). Bowl Season’s role in the business of sports was a consistent topic. Bowl Season’s total earned media results for the year included a reach of 988M for a total value of $1.9M (through December 31, 2023).
Bowl Season was covered on a number of different mediums including traditional print, podcast, radio, Instagram/YouTube live.
Nick Carparelli got the chance to join David Meltzer on Instagram Live to promote the importance and lasting impact of Bowl Season to his 608,000 followers.
BREAKING
NO MEDIA TOO BIG OR SMALL Bowl Season is dedicated to spreading our message and celebrating college football with media outlets of all sizes.
BowlSeason.com
The overall re-brand of Bowl Season in 2020 included revamping the organization’s website, to enhance and improve its features, while making it more fan-friendly. The efforts have produced significant growth.
Trends & Growth
Followers
Twitter + Instagram + Facebook + TikTok
Twitter Impressions
Instagram Reach
Facebook Reach
Bowl Season’s KICKOFF e-newsletter completed its fourth season in 2023-24, continuing to celebrate college football and our unique postseason. Our distribution base saw substantial growth, now with more than 24,900 subscribers through proactive efforts and signups. We’d like to give special recognition to Kevin McNamara, who did a great job as our lead writer for content and coverage.
Play-by-Play for 18 Bowl Games
Bowl Season Radio aired on terrestrial radio stations throughout the country, as well as Sirius XM satellite radio. In addition, the games streamed live on Tune-In, Audacy and The Varsity Network apps.
The Bowl Season Radio schedule included the Cricket Celebration Bowl, Avocados From Mexico Cure Bowl, Isleta New Mexico Bowl, Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, Famous Toastery Bowl, Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, 76 Birmingham Bowl, Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, Quick Lane Bowl, SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, Military Bowl presented by GoBowling.com, Wasabi Fenway Bowl, Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, TransPerfect Music City Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl and the East-West Shrine Bowl all-star game.
Bowl Season Stories, the official podcast of Bowl Season, completed its third successful season. The Bowl Season Stories podcast continues to feature the top names in college football — from all-time greats to current analysts, broadcasters and bowl executives — talking about the storylines, trends and traditions that make Bowl Season and the games so special.
Catch Up on Season 3 Guests You May Have Missed
Steve Shaw • Matt Rhule • Bruce Feldman • Brian Kelly • Gloria Nevarez • Joshua Perry • Joe Tessitore • Mike Perrin
Nick Ferroni • Virginia Tech O-Linemen • Jon Steinbrecher • Qadry Ismail • Matt Barrie • Roman Oben • Jim Phillips
Chris Zorich • Mike Tirico • Keith Gill • Danny Wuerffel • Shannon Spake • Greg Schiano • Chris Carlin • Matt Cassel
Rob Gronkowski • Judy MacLeod • Dorian Williams • Merton Hanks • A.J. Edds • Greg Sankey • Rhett Lashlee
Mike Aresco • Rich Rodriguez • Bob Roller • Dan Mullen • Tony Petitti • Emmanuel Michel • Stewart Mandel 2023-24
In its third year, Bowl Season worked with athletic directors and coaches to celebrate teams becoming bowl eligible with the Bowl Bound shirt program. Once a team achieved its sixth win, they received what’s become the memento that all college football players crave: Bowl Bound shirts.
Unifi Manufacturing is part of this unique partnership along with Vapor Apparel that produced the new Bowl Bound shirts. Unifi, the makers of REPREVE — a sustainable fiber composed of recycled plastic water bottles, is changing the game with Vapor, the official partner for Bowl Season’s apparel campaign which focuses on both elite performance and sustainability.
The Bowl Bound shirts first appeared in 2021, and Bowl Season saw an opportunity to elevate the overall campaign and shine a light on sustainability in the environment at the same time. REPREVE sustainable fiber is shipped to Vapor, where it creates the active-wear for all bowl-bound teams. Each shirt is made out of 16 recycled water bottles.
The Bowl Bound shirt program proved to be a point of pride in 2023. The moment served as a benchmark for programs to rallying around and look forward to Bowl Season. The phrase “Bowl Bound” has become a house hold moniker in large part to our Bowl Bound shirt program.”
PUNCHING THEIR TICKET: South Florida became bowl bound for the first time since 2018 with its sixth win over Charlotte.
Viewership is Strong
The full slate of college football bowls this season averaged 4.4 million viewers across 43 total games, up 6% from last season. Compared to other sports, bowls also brought in a higher average than regular season NBA, MLB and NHL averages on ESPN last season.
CFP SEMIFINALS VIEWERSHIP
The College Football Playoff Semifinal games combined for a total viewership of 46.42M
→ The Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential was the most watched semifinal game since the CFP’s inception.
27.69M
VIEWERS
JAN. 1
Alabama vs. Michigan
18.74M
VIEWERS
JAN. 1
Texas vs. Washington
MOST-WATCHED NON-CFP BOWLS
10.39M VIEWERS DEC. 30
Georgia vs. Florida State ESPN 9.72M VIEWERS DEC. 29
VIEWERS DEC. 30
Ole MIss vs. Penn State ESPN
Missouri vs. Ohio State ESPN 7.77M
6.8M VIEWERS JAN. 1
Iowa vs. Tennessee ABC
4.65M VIEWERS JAN. 1 Liberty vs. Oregon ESPN/ESPNU
4.61M VIEWERS JAN. 1 Wisconsin vs. LSU ESPN2 4.31M VIEWERS DEC. 28
3.51M VIEWERS DEC. 27
Louisville vs. USC FOX
NC State vs. Kansas State ESPN
3.93M VIEWERS DEC. 28 Arizona vs. Oklahoma ESPN 3.84M VIEWERS DEC. 27 North Carolina vs. West Virginia ESPN
3.43M VIEWERS DEC. 29
Clemson vs. Kentucky ESPN 3.26M VIEWERS DEC. 29
Oregon State vs. Notre Dame CBS
3.09M VIEWERS DEC. 23 Utah vs. Northwestern ABC
3.6M VIEWERS DEC. 29 Memphis vs. Iowa State ESPN
3.08M VIEWERS DEC. 27
Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State ESPN