Why US loves bowl games - even with mediocre teams

One example of second-tier success is the Independence Bowl, which has made a go of it despite playing in the second-smallest bowl market. (Boise, home to the Humanitarian Bowl, is the smallest.) The Shreveport, La., event hit rock bottom in 1988, when both attendance (20,000) and the region's oil/gas industry were hurting, says Glen Krupica, the contest's executive director.

Gradually, however, the bowl has been rebuilt and stabilized. In 1989, the Independence signed Oregon, which hadn't been to a bowl in 28 years. Bowl organizers love "hungry schools," and Oregon was starved. Nine thousand fans followed the Ducks to northwest Louisiana.

Poulan/Weed Eater was signed as a title sponsor in 1990, in one of the early such arrangements. That generated needed income and visibility, and even jokes about the "Weedwacker Bowl."

Brand-name teams like Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Notre Dame have signed on to play in Shreveport during off years, and this year up-and-coming Missouri is considered a prime catch.

"Even though we've attracted some big traditional programs," Mr. Krupica says, "we haven't lost sight of how we got where we are, which is catching people on the way up."

The Independence Bowl rates 11th to 14th in what Krupica calls the major measuring sticks of bowl success: attendance, TV ratings, and team payouts. A TV deal with ESPN, state backing, conference tie-ins, and a lot of genuine Southern hospitality have contributed to the bowl's solid position.

But secondary bowls can never rest on their laurels. The Independence's five-person full-time staff is already shopping for a new sponsor to replace MainStay Funds, and is working on developing more regional marketing within an hour's drive.

"The hardest part for bowls is selling tickets to the local community," says Schulze, who also works for the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. That's because the teams often aren't known until just weeks before. Thus it's important to build community support for the game almost regardless of who's playing.

Bowls often accomplish this by backing local charities, and, at least in the case of the Outback Bowl, through membership ticket packages, which include choice seats at the game and access to other related, year-round events.

"When you establish an emotional appeal and involvement of local community people, at a certain point they don't care who the teams are, they just want to be a part of it," Schulze says.

Booking the right teams is a key to success, too. Last year's Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., was poorly attended. The University of Minnesota sold only 1,696 tickets from the school's allotment of 10,000. This year, Wisconsin is coming and the school has sold more than 7,000 tickets. Its opponent, Auburn, has long since sold its allotment since fans can easily drive to the game.

Having a local draw obviously helps attendance, and no team has a clearer edge in this department than this year's only new bowl, the Fort Worth (Texas) Bowl. It pitted Boise State against Texas Christian University, which only had to trot out of its own locker room for the kickoff. The TCU players, however, stayed at a downtown hotel.

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