How Expanded CFP
and
Creative Marketing Elevated Bowl Game Viewership
By KEVIN M c NAMARA
For years now, ill-informed naysayers surveyed college football’s post-season and surmised that an expanded championship playoff would negatively impact the many bowl games that dot the December calendar.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
While the expanded College Football Playoff did, in fact, grow interest in the sport as hoped for, it did not come at the expense of other post-season opportunities. And the evidence is not word of mouth or hyperbole. It’s in the numbers, the TV numbers anyway.
continued to elevate Bowl Season in the eye of the sports world.
“I have never doubted the popularity of Bowl Season and knew bowl game viewership would remain strong…but this year’s viewership numbers exceeded even my expectations,” said Nick Carparelli, executive director of Bowl Season.
“I have never doubted the popularity of Bowl Season and knew bowl game viewership would remain strong…but this year’s viewership numbers exceeded even my expectations.”
–
NICK CARPARELLI Bowl Season Executive Director
In fact, the expanded CFP offerings may have helped to boost viewership for the games played over the 10 days between first round and quarterfinal contests. Creative marketing plays, interesting matchups and plenty of publicity
According to ESPN, the 33 non-CFP bowls averaged 2.7 million viewers, marking a 14 percent year-over-year increase and the largest audience since the 201920 season. Gains were particularly notable among viewers aged 18-49, with a 21 percent rise in that demographic.
Fourteen of the 33 bowls achieved at least a fiveyear high in viewership, with five reaching ten-year highs. The Valero Alamo Bowl attracted 8 million
viewers, making it the most-watched non-CFP/ New Year’s Six bowl on any network in five years. Meanwhile, the ReliaQuest Bowl matchup of Michigan and Alabama drew 6.5 million viewers, earning the distinction of cable’s most-watched non-CFP bowl in nine years.
Other big numbers came from the Pop-Tarts Bowl (6.8 million), its best number since 2008; the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (5 million, up 47%); the AutoZone Liberty Bowl (4.2 million), the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl (4.1 million, a 40% increase over last year) and the Birmingham Bowl (4.1 million, up 52%).
experience, game presentation and charitable work, the ability to separate an event with a large dose of marketing and sponsor fun is clearly working.
“We knew there was a high bar set in the last few years and Pop-Tarts wanted to throw the ball deep and continue on what makes their brand unique.”
Perhaps the biggest TV ratings smack-in-the forehead? The Alamo and Pop-Tarts numbers out-performed a CFP first round game matching Penn State and SMU.
– MATT REPCHAK
Florida Citrus Sports Chief Marketing Officer
So why are college football fans watching in growing numbers? Hard work and creativity on the part of many bowl organizations certainly is important. While bowls always prioritize the player and fan
Matt Repchak, the chief marketing officer for Florida Citrus Sports, has helped coordinate the explosion of interest in the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. He said officials at Kellanova, the parent company of the breakfast and snack foods, work all year to capitalize on their bowl sponsorship efforts. That means a heavy social media play, Cheez-It decals on player’s helmets and some game-day creativity that featured a giant toaster rolled onto the Camping World Stadium turf for players to select their favorite Pop-Tart.
“We knew there was a high bar set in the last few years and Pop-Tarts wanted to throw the ball deep and continue on what makes their brand unique,” Repchak said. “It was a major collaboration with their marketing team, a creative team and our group at Florida Citrus Sports. I’ll say that the Pop-Tarts people
really know their brand and we’re so happy they’ve used our game to grow their business.”
Is there a product that’s grown in the public’s eye via the bowl game space more than Duke’s Mayonnaise? It’s not by accident. Miller Yoho works with marketing for the Charlotte Sports Foundation and has watched the notoriety of the ‘Duke’s Mayo Dump’ grow by leaps and bounds ever since South Carolina coach Shane Beamer was the first coach to sit for a mayo bath in 2021. Yoho said that all eight competing coaches over the last four years have agreed to welcome a dump if they are victorious.
shouted out Flav’s trademark ‘Yeah, Boy!’ and gave the hip hop star a big hug. Then he became the first coach to sit for the Mayo Dump without a hat.
“We have a belief that our game should be fun,” Yoho said. “There are two keys, the player experience and the fan experience. Coach Fleck and his players certainly had fun with their victory but also our post-game ceremony that’s become iconic. We always say, “mayonnaise makes things weird.’’
A chain for a champion. Senior running back Kevin Davis receives the MVP Chain from game host Snoop Dogg.
This year that was Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck after the Gopher’s 24-10 win over Virginia Tech. This time when game mascot Tubby was revealed to the ESPN audience as Flavor Flav, a clearly surprised Fleck
Out in Tucson, the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop drew a game-record crowd of 40,076. That crowd, plus the national TV audience, provided the two star entertainers the chance to promote the release of their second spirit after the debut of their successful canned gin and juice cocktails in early 2024.
While the bowl experience provides certain leverage for sponsors, they also continue to support community initiatives. The Arizona Bowl, like many others, has invested game proceeds in many health, education and wellbeing initiatives in the Tucson area.
“I will never understand why people try to diminish the impact and excitement that bowl season provides to college football fans, when year-in and year-out it delivers in a far greater way than almost any other sporting event could possibly manufacture,” said Carparelli.
Other positive signs from this Bowl Season included the fact that more big-name stars chose to play in bowl games. That included Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter (Colorado) in the Alamo Bowl and each of the top 10 Heisman vote-getters.
No one in college football can predict what comes of future iterations of the College Football Playoff. Whether it remains at a dozen schools or grows larger, there will be not only a need but a timehonored legacy of bowl game opportunities for deserving players, coaches and fan bases to enjoy college football’s post-season.
“This year, more than ever, has proven what we've been saying: college football needs bowl games,” Carparelli said. “We all love the College Football Playoff. But that's not a big enough postseason for the sport.
Regardless of how big the CFP ever gets, there's never going to be enough opportunities in the playoff alone to reward the number of deserving teams. They want to celebrate a successful season and how we measure success in our sport is very, very different from one program to another.”
Travis HUNTER
Bowl Season aired on terrestrial radio stations throughout the country, as well as SiriusXM satellite radio. In addition, the games streamed live on TuneIn, Audacy, and The Varsity Network apps. It is estimated that 5.25M listeners enjoyed Bowl Season radio across all broadcasts.
BOWL CHALLENGE CUP
The Bowl Challenge Cup is a competition between the FBS conferences and the conference that has the highest winning percentage in bowl games wins the Challenge. Only the quarterfinal and semifinal games of the College Football Playoff will count towards the conference records for the Bowl Challenge Cup. American Athletic Conference teams went 6-2 in bowl games, scoring wins against opponents from the SEC, Big 12, ACC, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Conference USA. The .750 winning percentage leaves The American atop the Bowl Challenge Cup standings. The American’s eight bowl-eligible teams and six bowl wins are both the most in the conference's 12year history. This year marks the first time that The American has won the Bowl Challenge Cup.
TEAM CHALLENGE CHAMPION
The Aftermath of the First Ever Bowl Season Pick’em Game
TThe Nebraska Cornhuskers — and more importantly their fans — are the champs. No, we’re not talking about the champions of the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. Coach Matt Rhule’s team did secure a hard-earned 20-15 victory over Boston College, good for Nebraska’s first bowl win since 2015, but that wasn’t the program’s only big win.
Nebraska and its fans are the first-ever winners of the Bowl Season Team Challenge. And this was truly a team effort. The 70 teams that won enough games to become bowl eligible and participated in the non-College Football Playoff bowl games were all eligible to compete in the Challenge with Nebraska edging a host of other strong contenders for the trophy.
“This is the first official place where fans can compete in the name of their favorite school and follow every bowl game.”
follow every bowl game,” said Nick Carparelli, the executive director of Bowl Season. “We constantly work to find ways to promote Bowl Season and engage our fans and we know they always love to support their teams.”
– NICK CARPARELLI Bowl Season Executive Director
“This is the first official place where fans can compete in the name of their favorite school and
So how did this year’s competition work? First off, the winning team needs to win its bowl game. Nebraska became bowl eligible for the first time since 2016 only after it halted a late-season four-game losing streak by beating Wisconsin. It was the Huskers’ first win over the Badgers in 11 years.
Nebraska Football back in the New York groove. Winning the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl over Boston College 20-15.
The Pinstripe Bowl victory over the Eagles didn’t come easily either as BC rallied with two fourth quarter touchdowns.
But with the victory in hand, Nebraska had the first of three prerequisites to win the Team Challenge. The second came in New York with the team’s community service commitment decorating cards for the children at Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Pediatric Cancer Center. The day before the game, a smaller group of players and staff, including University President Jeffrey Gold, delivered the cards and beanies to the patients sharing holiday cheer and Big Red spirit.
The third part of the program focuses on fan participation and, as usual, Nebraska’s football fan base showed that it is as passionate as any. Fans are tasked with entering the official Bowl Season Pick’em game, picking winners of every bowl game and attaching ‘confidence points’ to each selection. The pick’em game is run with help from Genius Sports and offers a coupon for one free bowling game for all entries from Go Bowling. The individual with the overall top score wins the grand prize of two tickets to the 2026 CFP National Championship game in Miami Gardens, Fla., plus two $500 Delta Air Lines vouchers. Other prizes included bowling for a year, coffee for a year from Scooter’s Coffee and EASports College Football 25 video games.
Partnership Spotlight
SEASON
Scooter's Coffee is one of the fastest growing specialty coffee drive-thru franchise systems in the nation.
Since 2023, we have been a proud sponsor of the Frisco Bowl college bowl game. Becoming the Official Coffee Sponsor of Bowl Season was a natural progression in our bowl game partnership and our connection with college football fans across the country!
LEARN MORE
OFFICIAL COFFEE OF BOWL
2024-25 BOWL SEASON
STATS + NOTES
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
1.5M
10K
$100M
DISTRIBUTED TO PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
95M PLAYERS OPT-IN FANS IN ATTENDANCE TV VIEWERSHIP
FOURTY-FIVE
BOWL GAMES
INCLUDING 2 ALL-STAR GAMES AND THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
MOST-WATCHED NON-CFP BOWLS
The 36 non-CFP bowl games across ESPN networks, ABC, FOX, CBS and CW Network averaged 2.7M viewers, marking a 14% year-over-year increase and the largest audience since the 2019-20 season.
Three Programs Claim Their First-Ever Bowl Wins
The 2024-25 Bowl Season celebrated three programs earning their first-ever bowl victories. Jackson State clinched the Cricket Celebration Bowl marking a historic milestone. James Madison secured a win in the Boca Raton Bowl, and Sam Houston etched their name in history with a victory at the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, winning their first appearance at a bowl game.
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
JACKSON STATE
SAM HOUSTON
JAMES MADISON
Memphis Streaks, UNLV Breaks Drought
The Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl extended Memphis' impressive streak, giving the Tigers a win in their 11th consecutive bowl appearance. Meanwhile, UNLV shattered a 23-year drought with a win at the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk, capping a historic 11-3 season and achieving their first 11-win campaign in 40 years. The last time UNLV won a bowl game only a single member of their current roster was alive, quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams.
Only in Bowl Season
This year’s Bowl Season proved that the magic of bowl games doesn’t end at the final whistle — the celebrations stole the show. →
From the unforgettable Mayo Dump featuring Flavor Flav at the Duke's Mayo Bowl to the return of devouring the edible mascot at the Pop-Tarts Bowl, these moments were as iconic as the games themselves. The DIRECTV Holiday Bowl surprised a celebrating Syracuse team with an Eggnog Dump, and the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl brought back the classic Cheez-It shower paired with live wedding nuptials. The sidelines were star-studded between the Valero Alamo Bowl and the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. These bowls took marketing to the next level, creating celebrations fans won’t forget.
It wouldn’t be Bowl Season without Bowling
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
Comeback Kids
Kansas State staged an incredible rally in the Rate Bowl, coming back from a 34-17 deficit midway through the third quarter, pulling off the greatest bowl comeback win in school history. USC also impressed, overcoming a 17-point deficit to edge out Texas A&M 35-31 in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. Navy added to the excitement in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, bouncing back from an early two-touchdown deficit and stopping a late 2-point conversion attempt to secure a nail-biting 21-20 win over Oklahoma.
Underdog Dominance
LOWER-SEEDED TEAMS RISE IN CFP BOWL GAMES
The Underdoggs shined in this year’s Bowl Season, especially in the CFP Bowl Games, after the home teams dominated the first-round games on home campuses. The lower-seeded team came alive, winning all four quarterfinal matchups; Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This trend continued in the semifinals, where both lower seeded squads won the Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The year was capped off with the 8 seed Ohio State beating the 7 seed Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship →
Bowls Build Momentum for Programs
Playing in a bowl game is a pivotal milestone for a college football program, offering significant benefits that extend into the next season. Bowl games provide teams with additional practices, crucial for player development, especially for younger athletes who gain valuable experience in a competitive environment. A strong bowl performance can build momentum and confidence, setting a positive tone for the offseason. This rings true in the cases of Vanderbilt (Birmingham Bowl), UConn (Wasabi Fenway Bowl), Nebraska (Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl), and Army (Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl).
UCONN
ARMY
VANDERBILT
NEBRASKA
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
BOWL SEASON BOWL SEASON
Overtime Thrillers Set New Records
Bowl Season delivered back-to-back overtime spectacles that rewrote the record books. The Hawai’i Bowl captivated fans with a jaw-dropping five-overtime match. Remarkably, just two days later, the GameAbove Sports Bowl outdid it, going an unprecedented six overtimes to claim the title of longest bowl game in history. These instant classics will be remembered as some of the most dramatic moments in bowl history.
BOWL SEASON CHAMPIONS
