Kickoff: Bowl Season Official Newsletter – August 2021

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK

The 2021 Season is Here and the Student-Athletes, Coaches and Fans are Ready to Go

By KEVIN M c

After the dark spring and summer of 2020, college football provided a glimmer of hope for the American sports fan in these Covid times.

Fans, bands and cheerleaders may have been restricted, but when the Lions and the Gators, the Sooners and the Trojans all played on, we could all see some light at the end of a gloomy tunnel. Many big games, and several historic bowl games, were sacrificed but when Alabama was crowned a national champion in Miami last January, everyone knew better days were just around the corner.

Now the college football world is ready to

elevate its game by several notches. This 2021 season is reverting back to a new normal. While some restrictions remain in place, full rosters, packed stadiums and a complete schedule of Bowl Season games have the sport ready for a breakout year.

“We’re all excited that the world is getting back to normal and I’m excited college football is back to a new normal,” said Nick Carparelli, the executive director of Bowl Season. “I’m most excited for college football fans.”

The fans, ah, we missed you. To see a smattering of seats filled at Notre Dame Stadium, the Rose Bowl or the Big House just isn’t right. Neither were

NAMARA

“The passion college football fans have for their teams is unrivaled in sports.”

– NICK CARPARELLI Bowl Season Executive Director

shuttered tailgate groves or bowl games without parades and all the requisite pageantry.

“The passion college football fans have for their teams is unrivaled in sports,” Carparelli said. “Everyone missed the game last year for different reasons but the fans missed driving to the games, tailgating with their friends and rooting for their team in person. There is no substitute for that.”

As programs from coast to coast welcomed back excited players to campus in August, everyone could feel a palpable sense of anticipation. The same feelings were on display

at Bowl Season’s Annual Meeting in August in Scottsdale, AZ. Representatives from 44 bowls, sponsors and major industry vendors came together and participated in four panel discussions and heard a keynote address from ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips.

“Our annual meeting was a huge success,” Carparelli said. “We had some informative panel topics where everyone exchanged valuable ideas and insights. Jim Phillips of the ACC was a timely featured speaker who brought everyone up to date on the important developments in our sport.”

BOWL SEASON LAUNCHES NEW OFFICIAL PODCAST

Bowl Season is launching a new official podcast that will focus on the moments and memories that make college football’s traditional post-season so great. Titled Bowl Season Stories, the podcast takes the organization’s tagline — “a celebration of college football” — and brings it to the podcast realm.

Bowl Season Stories will feature top names in college football – from all-time greats to current analysts, broadcasters and bowl executives – to talk about the storylines, trends and traditions that make Bowl Season and the games so special. Discussions will highlight the student-athletes and the spirit of competition that captivate millions of fans and enrich communities across the country.

“I’m thrilled that we are launching a podcast that celebrates Bowl Season and the great game of college football,” Bowl Season Executive Director Nick Carparelli said. “Bowl Season Stories will feature conversations among industry leaders and legends of the game. Bowl Season’s rich history has created so many magical moments and we can’t wait to tell the stories with the former student-athletes who played in big games, and

the people making bowl games special for all involved today.”

Carparelli will serve as host and will be joined by on-air producer and broadcasting veteran Angela Lang. Bowl Season Stories debuted on August 26, with featured guests Tony Dorsett, 1976 Heisman Trophy winner and National Champion; and John Grant, executive director of the Celebration Bowl. New episodes will drop weekly throughout the college football season. Produced by Tony Fay Public Relations, fans can find and subscribe to Bowl Season Stories via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever they download their podcasts.

Yet beyond the exchange of professional themes, Carparelli said the main take away was a more personal one.

“Just the simple fact that the entire bowl industry was back together again for the first time in 28 months was reason to celebrate,” he said. “We are a tight-knit group, it’s a small circle of college football friends who work for their bowl game on a year-round basis. It was great to be together and look ahead with confidence.”

College football fans are lighting up talk shows and message boards around the country as all sorts of storylines unfold in advance of the kickoff to a new season. Are the new quarterbacks at Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Texas A&M ready for prime time? Is the country ready for the next wave of throwers, from Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma) to Sam Howell (North Carolina) and D’Eriq King (Miami)?

Plenty of new coaches in big jobs are attracting headlines. They include Steve Sarkisian at Texas, Bryan Harsin at Auburn, Josh Heupel at Tennessee, Gus Malzahn at Central Florida, Bret Bielema at Illinois and many more.

And how about those early season clashes? Get ready for Alabama-Miami, Clemson-Georgia, Ohio St-Oregon, LSU-UCLA, Penn St.-Auburn, Notre Dame-Florida State and many more.

Everyone is gunning for a valued spot in the four-team College Football Playoff. That will feature the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Capital One Orange Bowl as CFP semifinals on New Year’s Eve and then the CFP National Championship on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

Bowl Season is excited for its turn in the sun as well, or as Carparelli says, “college football’s post-season is for everyone. We have a playoff component and a Bowl Season component and both are equally important to the sport.”

Towards that end, Bowl Season will be producing an unofficial, fan-friendly Bowl Projections feature on a weekly basis once the initial CFP rankings are unveiled in late October. It will basically be a snapshot of what the bowl game matchups might look like if the season ended that day.

The off-season is coming to an end and “talking season” is over. It’s time for some football. Good luck to all the student-athletes, coaches and staffs.

“College football’s post-season is for everyone. We have a playoff component and a Bowl Season component and both are equally important to the sport.”

– NICK CARPARELLI Bowl Season Executive Director

Gus Malzahn is a familiar face at a new place in Central Florida.

The Times, They are a-changing

By KEVIN M c NAMARA

If you’re not

moving forward, you’re falling behind.

If there is any sport that lives up to this time-worn adage, it’s college football. After a season unlike any other due to the challenges of the pandemic, the power brokers in athletic departments, conference offices, bowl games and television networks are embracing change and looking to move the sport forward.

First came the slow-moving train of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) that promises to touch every college football program in America in some way. Then word came that the College Football Playoff is exploring expansion, perhaps to as many as 12 teams. Finally, late in the summer, the first major conference expansion transaction in a decade fell into place as Oklahoma and Texas announced plans to jump to the Southeastern Conference.

Clearly the times they are a-changing.

The various moves leave school presidents, athletic directors, coaches, commissioners and TV execs wondering just what the future will look like. We may be able to predict with a degree of

certainty what the 2021 season may hold but you’d have to be some type of wizard with a pigskin crystal ball to forecast what the 2026 campaign could bring, for example.

Many of these changes were discussed at the Bowl Season Annual Meeting in Scottsdale in August. A full presentation of the opportunities around NIL drew a lot of attention from bowl representatives who are exploring a host of new avenues for their games.

This year’s CFP semifinals will feature a New Year’s Eve doubleheader that includes the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Capital One Orange Bowl. The CFP National Championship on Jan. 10 will be held outside of the bowl system in

EXPERIENCED DISCUSSION: Attendees at the Bowl Season Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ, were treated to expert panels on topics like Name, Image and Likeness, Storytelling in the Digital Age, and Technology Advancements for Venues.

Indianapolis. What will the CFP look like in four or eight years? No one can say with any certainty.

As for Bowl Season, Executive Director Nick Carparelli keeps his ear to the ground and speaks regularly with most college football leaders.

“We’re supportive of any changes that are in the best interests of college football,” Carparelli said. “The growth of the sport will lift up everyone involved in the game. As college football continues to evolve, Bowl Season will be nimble, creative and fluid to evolve with those changes.”

The current four-team CFP has been in existence for seven years now and has certainly been a great success, raising the profile of college football even higher. The CFP is an important part of Bowl Season, and the most recent proposal for expansion includes the participation of even more bowls to crown an official champion. Wherever possible expansion lands, the unique experience for student-athletes, coaches, bands, spirit groups and fans at all post-season bowl games will continue to set Bowl Season apart as an American tradition like no other.

“The College Football Playoff and Bowl Season are both equally important to college football,” Carparelli said. “There are 130 FBS programs and the opportunity to play in a post-season bowl game remains special for all of them. Bowl games serve so many important needs for college football.” Conference realignment creates change, of course, but part of that change includes new opportunity. There are growing programs in each of the 10 FBS conferences, each looking to continue an upward trajectory towards more winning seasons and participation in the post-season. Perhaps the move of OU and Texas to the SEC opens up lanes for the other Big 12 schools. No matter what conference these teams compete in, all are eligible for Bowl Season and a unique experience that only college football can bring.

Bowl Season will remain nimble and work together with the leaders of the sport, no matter what change comes. But change is here, and college football and Bowl Season are positioned to keep moving forward.

“Bowl games serve so many important needs for college football.”

– NICK CARPARELLI Bowl Season Executive Director

Bowl Season and CFP Foundation

Partnering to Impact Teachers

One of the highlights from the Bowl Season Annual Meeting in early August was the announcement of a new partnership between Bowl Season and the CFP Foundation. The largest sports entity supporting K-12 educators in America, the CFP Foundation has collectively invested over $47 million in support of education. It has joined forces with Bowl Season to provide an opportunity for all 44 bowl games to celebrate and support teachers across the country. Each bowl game will have the opportunity to participate in an Extra Yard for Teachers recognition and grantmatching program during Bowl Season. This new Bowl Season Extra Yard for Teachers program will be made available to bowl games and is in addition to the funding provided through existing bowl partnerships.

This program has the potential to bring upwards of $400,000 in additional support to teachers and students. Elements of the partnership include access to a teacher

celebration and marketing kit as well as matching grant funds to support the funding of teacher resources.

“We are excited to be able to partner with Bowl Season to support teachers all across the country,” said College Football Playoff Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky. “Numerous bowls have been very generous in their support already, but to be able to make this opportunity available to all Bowl Games is special, and we are very grateful.”

Entering this season, the established relationships with bowl games through teacher programs and grant activations has resulted in more than $10 million already invested to support teachers since the Foundation’s inception.

“We’re thrilled to be able to join with the CFP Foundation and impact teachers in communities

across the Bowl Season footprint,” said Bowl Season Executive Director Nick Carparelli. “Teachers are framing our country’s future through our kids and we couldn’t be more proud to be associated with Extra Yard for Teachers.”

COMMUNITY IMPACT: All 44 bowl games have been challenged to do something to impact teachers in their community on Sept. 14 as part of The Big Day.