There are many people who believe there are too many bowl games. 98.7 ESPN New York host Michael Kay isn’t necessarily in that camp, but he does believe ESPN is doing something right by the sheer amount of games being played and their ability to still make money despite limited crowds.
“There’s so many bowl games on,” Kay said. “ESPN does most of them, but when you tune in, I don’t know how many of them exist. There’s nobody in the stands. It’s almost as if they’re television entities.
“ESPN — I don’t know if you realize this — they’re pretty smart at what they do, so they must be making money at these bowls. But the actual physical presence of people at these games? There’s like hundreds of people, not tens of thousands.”
Kay’s comments came after believing the television audience for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game was likely altered by the Georgia blowout over TCU. The game’s viewership totals — which were released after Kay’s comments — was the lowest National Championship Game in history with 17.2 million viewers.
Co-host Don La Greca countered by saying the same phenomenon of small crowds happens in college basketball in early season tournaments in exotic locations, noting that if you’re a fan of a team who didn’t have a fantastic season, you’re not likely to travel to watch their bowl game.
