ACC Says Bye Bye Gator Bowl

Let's look at his list of SEC teams:
Florida- A short drive from gainesville. won't sell hotel rooms to them and consequently won't buy many meals. lets face it, could many florida fans get excited about new years in jacksonville? not to mention, florida probably won't be playing in the gator bowl for a long time.
georgia- they already play in jacksonville every year. how excited could they get about going back? there's only so many restaurants at the landing you can eat at.
tennessee- ok, they seem to travel well. lots would travel to jax since i doubt they've played there much in the past.
S. Carolina- about the same as tennessee
Alabama- similar to florida, doubt they would be relegated to jacksonville in the near-to-mid future.
auburn- pretty rabid fans. would travel well just to get out of alabama for a long weekend. middle of the pack sec team so they'll get tired of it after they play there 3 times in 5 years.
LSU- seem to travel well but i did notice a couple of tv shots last weekend that suggested that the upper corners of the toilet bowl in athens were empty so i'm thinking they didn't sell all theirs. my purely unscientific observation of lsu fans are that they sell lots of tickets but they don't stay and spend much money otherwise.
Mississippi- does anyone really know of any ole Miss fans outside of oxford mississippi? would probably travel on par with us, GT.

So by by analysis, i see two teams that would fit the bill for the gator bowl, sell tickets and hotel rooms. Tenn and SC.
 
77GTFan said:
GT-ND was one of the Gator's finest moments. GT then did well for a team playing there a second year in a row. The U did a terrible job getting fans there.
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AGREE. The Big East side of the stadium had the tarps installed over the seats when we played Miami that year, not the ACC/GT side.

77GTFan said:
I like the Gator Bowl. It was a New Year's Day game. The ACC will mss having its #3 in a bowl that is that city's second biggest bowl.

With the SEC picking up the Gator slot, Swofford was asleep at the wheel in not at least trying to get us into Tampa or Orlando on New Year's Day.
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I like it the Gator Bowl too. Jacksonville might not be Orlando or Tampa, but it's a traditional bowl with a New Year's Day kickoff.

Now the ACC has nothing on NYD outside of the BCS slot. The SEC and Big 10 have four NYD bowl slots each.

I'm sure Swofford tried his best to get the ACC another Florida bowl slot on New Year's Day. The Bowl Committees aren't buying what we (the ACC) is selling.

77GTFan said:
The Sun Bowl is a good bowl, just a long way away. I agree that the profile of the Nashville Bowl can improve.
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The Sun Bowl is a fantastic bowl game in a cool part of the country. The bowl committee really takes care of the teams and fans that make the trip to El Paso.
 
The bowls are a flippin' joke. It's all about big dollars. Tell me the Outback would rather have a 6th or 7th SEC team that will fill their stadium with untold numbers of screaming rednecks than the #3 ACC team? We ought to go hard after that bowl. Tampa, FL in January isn't a bad place to be.

You have to think our (GA Tech) performance against LSU last year, and the way we've (the ACC) treated the Gator plays a lot into this move. All in all, this just maks me want a playoff even more.

BCS CG (#1?)
Sugar (#1/#2?)
Capital One (#2/#3?)
Gator (#3-#6?)
Cotton (#3-#6?)
Peach (#4-#6?)
Outback (#6/#7?)
Music City
Liberty
Independence
Papa John's
 
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Let's look at this honestly, they will get the 7th pick SEC team. You can scratch UF, UGa, Ala, and LSU off that list. Those schools, if bowl eligible will be gone. You will really be picking from the bottom six SEC teams in terms of popularity. Those schools are:

KY, Vandy, MSU, SC, Ark, Ole Miss

Don't be fooled, those teams won't travel any better than Clem, VT, or GT to Jacksonville unless it is thier first bowl game in several years. Did anyone check to see if the Music City Bowl was a sellout last year? I doubt it. Has it ever sold out? It is a closer drive for 4 of those schools than Jacksonville. And don't say that Jax is a better destination than Nashville, it's not in any measurable way.

They were picking from the top 6 ACC schools.

VT, Clem, GT, Miami, FSU, UNC

Where the Gator bowl was getting pinched was that FSU and Miami stunk so bad that they rarely got a chance to pick those teams.
 
"I'm sure Swofford tried his best to get the ACC another Florida bowl slot on New Year's Day. The Bowl Committees aren't buying what we (the ACC) is selling."




Yeah but the bright side is Swafford has successfully negotiated the airing of an additional two UNC basketball games on ESPN 8 (the Ocho). :eek:
 
http://www.al.com/sec/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1254989728155410.xml&coll=2

From Alabama Live...

The Charlotte Observer reported the ACC rejected a proposal by the Gator to eliminate the "one-win rule" from the ACC's bowl selection process. That requires a bowl to choose a team that is within one win of the team with the best available ACC record.

Eliminating the rule would have given the Gator more flexibility in selecting teams based on ticket sales rather than record. The ACC announced that its No. 3 team, which previously went to the Gator, will now play the No. 2 Big East at the Champs Sports Bowl.
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This is a holdover from the ACC CG in the Gator Bowl. The Gator is wanting more $$, pure and simple, and is tired of getting strong-armed by Swofford. What happened to the venue that wanted BOTH our CG and a bowl partnership?

Also this:
The Independence Bowl, without an eligible No. 8 SEC or No. 7 Big 12 team last year, was forced to pair Louisiana Tech against Northern Illinois. Independence Bowl executive director Missy Setters said she is concerned that could happen again this season and worried the game might have dropped lower in the SEC pecking order.
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Whoever thinks a bunch of east coast Virginia/Carolina snobs are going to drive to Shreveport, LA for a bowl is out of their mind.

This is just has epic fail all over it.
 
stinger78 said:
http://www.al.com/sec/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1254989728155410.xml&coll=2

From Alabama Live...

This is a holdover from the ACC CG in the Gator Bowl. The Gator is wanting more $$, pure and simple, and is tired of getting strong-armed by Swofford. What happened to the venue that wanted BOTH our CG and a bowl partnership?
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That might of worked better for us.... If the Gator took Clemson or VT, that might open up Charlotte/Nashville for GT (in the years we don't make the BCS) :)

Water under the bridge now.....
 
GBurdell said:
Kinda like obama going to europe to seal the deal for chicago? everyone else knew he was full of $hit.
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I made that quote, not MacDaddy2.

Swofford may be an idiot. But he can't sell ice to the eskimos. The bowl committees are chasing the $$$ and they clearly don't like the ACC fan bases.
 
Based on what is normally delivered in regard to hotel rooms and ticket sales it's hard to blame them. I wish it were different, oh I wish it were different.

Keep in mind though in Swofford's mind, as long as it is good for the Heels ......
 
I can't believe that we didn't make a play for the Outback or Capital One.

The Gator Bowl is a big loss, but I have to say that I hated the noon start after a New Years Eve Party.

The stadium was too big and supported by zero locals. With the change, SEC locals will initially buy tickets, but watch and see how poor attendance is in a few years. LSU brought 5,000 to the Peach Bowl; why would they send any more than that to the Gator?

Losing Tech, Clemson, NCS, VPI, and FSU excited fan bases is a big loss for the Gator Bowl.
 
But as was stated above. The Gator has been promised no lower than the 6th SEC team.

http://www.al.com/sec/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1254989728155410.xml&coll=2

The SEC hasn't been to the Gator since 1994. The Gator will have no lower than the sixth pick in the SEC over the next four years.
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Last year, that would have been USCe, LSU or Vandy. LSU took a higher paying CFA Bowl, so that means USCe or Vandy. USCe would have filled it. Vandy, not so much.

The Gator has got to see that the media love affair with the SEC virtually locks in 2 BCS selections for the foreseeable future. That means that Cap One gets #3, and the Gator gets to squabble with the Cotton and CFA Bowls over #4-6. They're banking on alternating through those teams.

The CFA Bowl, the most profitable bowl, has a lot of weight, and isn't going to settle for #6 unless it's an LSU-type program. The SEC isn't going to squander the goodwill from their CG, the CFA kickoff game and the Peach on satisfying the Gator. Now they get to wrestle with the Cotton Bowl, one of the four with more age than the Gator.

I just think the Gator is going to be very disappointed with the product they get from the SEC, unless it's a mediocre USCe. I don't even think that UGAg bunch would travel well down there a second time in two months to see a mediocre 8-4/7-5 team play.
 
This is sad to me. There's nothing better than watching CFB on new year's day, and now instead of having two ACC games to choose from, I get one.
 
The problem with the ACC / Gator tie in was because the ACCCG was played there. And the loser of that game was expected to go right back.

That was idiotic, on both parties side.

When the SEC started a SECCG they did it in Bham, regardless of the weather. They built on that.

The ACCCG should have started in Charlotte.

Too late, but never too late to oust the little girl.

Oh course, they would come after DRad.
 
stinger78 said:
Last year, that would have been USCe, LSU or Vandy. LSU took a higher paying CFA Bowl, so that means USCe or Vandy. USCe would have filled it. Vandy, not so much.
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No, USCe would not have filled it. USCe v Iowa drew a 12,000 less fans than Clemson v Neb.

The Gator has chosen to go with a line-up of MSU, Ole Miss, USCe, Ark, KY, and Vandy. They will be happy when MSU makes a bowl on the rise and fills the stadium to 80% capacity. They'll be unhappy when they get MSU on the decline and the fill the stadium to 40% capacity.
 
Well, I'm half expecting that in the end, we announce a new tie in this week, or in years to come.

I think the Gator decided that new blood was better than old blood. It's certainly easier to travel to a new venue than to repeat an old one from a few years earlier. So the Gator will build on early hype for a few years.

I am surprised that the Gator didn't just switch the SEC for the Big East. The second team coming may bring nobody.
 
midatlantech said:
Well, I'm half expecting that in the end, we announce a new tie in this week, or in years to come.
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It's going to be the Independence Bowl in Shreveport versus a MWC team.

Here is the revised list of bowls, in rough order:
BCS Title or Orange Bowl (Miami)
Chick-Fil-A (Atlanta)
Champs (Orlando)
Tire (Charlotte)
Sun Bowl (El Paso, TX)
Music City (Nashville)
Congressional Bowl (Washington, D.C.)
Independence Bowl (Shreveport, LA)
GMAC Bowl (Mobile, AL)
 
midatlantech said:
I can't believe that we didn't make a play for the Outback or Capital One.

The Gator Bowl is a big loss, but I have to say that I hated the noon start after a New Years Eve Party.
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I believe the Outback Bowl starts at 11:00.
 
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