GATOR BOWL in trouble

GTFLETCH

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Attendance the last three years has taken an alarming nosedive, averaging just 40,873 fans. “Last year was the first time that we took in more ticket revenue from out-of-town visitors than locally, and that’s a problem,” Catlett said.

After 28 years on the job, Catlett knows the bowl’s future is on shaky ground. The Board of Trustees wants to bolster the game’s bottom line and try to take the Gator Bowl to the same financial level as the Citrus Bowl. The goal is to significantly increase team payouts by at least $2 million to have more attractive matchups and increase attendance, which has dwindled considerably in recent years.

“We’re in negotiations now for everything,” said Catlett. “We got a good deal overall with the city [on the stadium], but not a great deal. We got to get the city to give us the same deal as Georgia-Florida with rent, concessions and parking.

“We have to step up our game. We’re not going to be the Poulan Weed-Eater [Independence] Bowl. My instructions from our board is to move it forward or we’re done.”

Link
https://www.jacksonville.com/sports...-bowl-needs-more-than-jaguars-help-to-survive
 
HurricaneJacket

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GTFLETCH said:
Call me crazy butI believe the Gator Bowl attendance when played on New Year's Day: 64,785 while attendance when played BEFORE New Year's Day: 40,873
The difference due to the date: 23,912....That effect is HUGE! They need to play on New Years Day and the problem might be solved!!!
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I imagine that non new years day bowls (with some exceptions like the Liberty and Chick Fil A bowls) have never drawn as well as New Years Day bowls.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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The record attendance for any date for the Gator Bowl was FSU vx WVU on 1/1/2010 at 84,210. Both Clemson and the mutts, had relatively comparable attendances, also all on New Year's. Tech has a few 60,000+ attendance appearances there both on and off New Year's Days, as do the mutts. Clemson, Tech, and the mutts also have some poorly attended ones, all off New Year's Day. Tech's record was 70,791, beating ND on New Year's Day 1999. It definitely appears that New Year's is the best time for those games, but it also depends on the two teams playing.
 
iceeater1969

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Oldgoldandwhite said:
The Gator dropped the ball several decades ago. They used to be number 5 as a major bowl. They set back on their thumbs and got passed by a bunch of bowls.
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This sounds familar???

Drove over from pensacola and had to stay in burbs. Try to Stay on river and party after game
 

Oakland

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The Peach Bowl would have died if not for the now defunct Georgia Dome and the move to have a team from the ACC play against an SEC team. Otherwise it would have died in the mud and rain in Atlanta Stadium.
 
TechCubed

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They've got an uphill battle. ESPN is a big component for pretty much every bowl game. They slot the games into various television windows, so not as simple as just telling them the Gator will be New Year's Day going forward. The conferences play a major role in selection pecking order, so getting better teams faces a lot of competition.

Overall, the marketplace has completely changed over the last decade. It's harder and harder to make locals care about two random teams, especially when ticket prices tend to be non-friendly for a casual fan. Bowl games in general have become diluted, so hard to get fans of the participating teams excited about a middle or lower tier bowl game unless you get a school breaking a bowl drought. So much easier to just watch on TV.

Sad to see for Gator. Our win over ND was one of my favorite games I've witnessed.
 

augustabuzz

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Oakland said:
The Peach Bowl would have died if not for the now defunct Georgia Dome and the move to have a team from the ACC play against an SEC team. Otherwise it would have died in the mud and rain in Atlanta Stadium.
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Tech saved the Peach Bowl in 1978, on Christmas Day.
 

TheSilasSonRising

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
The record attendance for any date for the Gator Bowl was FSU vx WVU on 1/1/2010 at 84,210. Both Clemson and the mutts, had relatively comparable attendances, also all on New Year's. Tech has a few 60,000+ attendance appearances there both on and off New Year's Days, as do the mutts. Clemson, Tech, and the mutts also have some poorly attended ones, all off New Year's Day. Tech's record was 70,791, beating ND on New Year's Day 1999. It definitely appears that New Year's is the best time for those games, but it also depends on the two teams playing.
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Also depends on what “TV” says perhaps?
 

augustabuzz

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TheSilasSonRising said:
What?

Care to expand?
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The Christmas Day time killed ticket sales and the Bowl was in danger of losing certification and turned to Tech to run a "get out the vote " type of campaign. Even the wives of Tech coaches manned the phones and managed enough attendance ( not just ticket sales) to keep the bowl in good standing.
 

Oakland

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TheSilasSonRising said:
What?

Care to expand?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if I understand that either unless.... there use to be an NCAA rule that bowl games where required to sell a certain percentage of tickets locally. The Peach Bowl was not getting many local ticket sales. The big crowds were coming from teams like West Virginia, NCST, etc. However the GT vs Purdue game drew the smallest Peach Bowl crowd ever at just over 20,000 on a freezing Christmas Day. I think it was the only game on tv that day.

Edit: I believe augustabuzz is correct.
 

TheSilasSonRising

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augustabuzz said:
The Christmas Day time killed ticket sales and the Bowl
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augustabuzz said:
The Christmas Day time killed ticket sales and the Bowl was in danger of losing certification and turned to Tech to run a "get out the vote " type of campaign. Even the wives of Tech coaches manned the phones and managed enough attendance ( not just ticket sales) to keep the bowl in good standing.
Click to expand...

Umm, were we the solution or the problem that day? I believe Janet Rodgers, on her own initiative, helped. But not convinced the Peach Bowl turned to us unless they came saying “we were the only ones to give you a shot and, in your own city, you aren’t selling tickets regardless of day the game is played.”

Those were some dark days. IF, IF, IF only ELI had not got screwed over in athens and Pepper could have won that game. But then if only curry could have beaten auburn in 85, if only Lewis could have held on and beaten fsu, if only CPJ could have beaten ugag in 09.

The beauty of sports is the big “if”.

I believe Carson’s Peach Bowl debacle was a “final nail” excuse but the coffin was already sealed.

As for Gator Bowl, I think they may have rested on their laurels and felt too much in a comfort zone. They were at one time the biggest “second tier” game for schools not going to Sugar, Orange, or Cotton bowls. But Outback, Citrus Hall of Fame (or whatever those central Florida city bowls are called) came up with better visitor entertainment venues and invited better teams.
 
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