Tim Brando: Answers to your I-Bowl questions

[Turbine]

In this instance close regional would draw more national interest.

Nationwide any bowl game that is billed as an old rivalry will draw 10 to 1 interest over a cross country who's in it game.

jmo

[DestinCajun]

" With apologies to south Louisiana legislators, this was a television decision. Had UL been 7-5 and not 6-6, the Ragin Cajuns may have had a legitimate argument. They didn't and they don't. "

9.5 million in the chicago metro area .. 4.5 million in the state of louisiana

This is the biggest part of this whole farce - that a large number of people in Chicago will spend Sunday evening watching NIU in the I Bowl. I hope someone can come back after the game and cite TV ratings in Chicago.

[Turbine]

NIU is 67 miles from the heart of Chicago.

[Hammer58]

_ " With apologies to south Louisiana legislators, this was a television decision. Had UL been 7-5 and not 6-6, the Ragin Cajuns may have had a legitimate argument. They didn't and they don't. "

9.5 million in the chicago metro area .. 4.5 million in the state of louisiana

ps. anyone else hear the rumor that howard told the motor city they didn't have to give FAU the payout monies? _

Brando must be dizzy from all that spinning. He's touting NIU being a draw because they turned it around from 2 wins to 6? Hell, Bustle did just about the same from last year to this and at least all of UL's wins were over D1A teams; NIU can't even make that claim.

I don't discount that ESPN, among other things, had some influence in the pick. But all this north Louisiana spin to discredit the notion that there was no attempt at all on the part of Tech and the Indy Bowl committee to keep UL out is laughable. And their attempt to justify the appeal of NIU is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.

[Turbine]

I think it was all TV but I dont' agree with ESPN on how a school that draws interest from .002 percent of its market can suddenly pull in TV viewers.

Old rivals LA vs LA would have had a much higher national interest.

[Just1More]

_ This is the biggest part of this whole farce - that a large number of people in Chicago will spend Sunday evening watching NIU in the I Bowl. I hope someone can come back after the game and cite TV ratings in Chicago. _

A myth of Brando-size proportions. Just in... VP of ESPN ("World-wide" leader in sports)... "we picked NIU in the Indy Bowl... says who... we told the Indy that we didn't care who else was in it... send John, one microphone, one camera and that old ESPN sign Fred's daughter made... oh, and bring some tarps... oh, and make up some TV ratings... oh, and call Don... Dan... Dooley back and tell him... yes, we know you are Vince's son."

[rcarte3]

_ Did you not find a little journalistic hometown liberty in his explanation. May I first say that the volunteers and the wonderment of the Indy in all of its spendor and gradeur are not the least lost on this little boy reared in the back alleys of Shreveport... now, on to the mighty ESPN and their deciding who goes to what bowl. Has every other "committee" yielded to this argument? Do they all now simply ask ESPN who to pick? Is that how it works?

BRING ON A PLAYOFF SYSTEM... THE CESSPOOL IS OVERFLOWING!!! _

Why do you want a playoff system you still wouldn't get in. Any playoff system is probably not going to include the SBC. The WAC and C-USA might even be left out of a playoff system. UL-Laf wouldn't have even qualified for the I-AA playoffs with a 6-6 record.

[rcarte3]

_ A myth of Brando-size proportions. Just in... VP of ESPN ("World-wide" leader in sports)... "we picked NIU in the Indy Bowl... says who... we told the Indy that we didn't care who else was in it... send John, one microphone, one camera and that old ESPN sign Fred's daughter made... oh, and bring some tarps... oh, and make up some TV ratings... oh, and call Don... Dan... Dooley back and tell him... yes, we know you are Vince's son." _

Brando knows more about how the college football/bowl situations work than any of us on Ragin Pagin. Do you really think ESPN is going to say we told the I-Bowl who to pick? Get real they aren't going to say that. If that's the case then you must believe every promise a politican promises.

[DestinCajun]

A myth of Brando-size proportions. Just in... VP of ESPN ("World-wide" leader in sports)... "we picked NIU in the Indy Bowl... says who... we told the Indy that we didn't care who else was in it... send John, one microphone, one camera and that old ESPN sign Fred's daughter made... oh, and bring some tarps... oh, and make up some TV ratings... oh, and call Don... Dan... Dooley back and tell him... yes, we know you are Vince's son."

I'm looking at the weather forecast for Sunday evening and it's looking rough for BR. What conditions will they have in Shreveport? I dunno but I'm kinda thinking I won't be all that unhappy at the family Christmas party afterall.

[DestinCajun]

NIU is 67 miles from the heart of Chicago.

The only way there is any more than mild interest in NIU in Chicago is if NIU has a record like Boise or Utah and is playing in something like the Sugar Bowl. They have an ongoing "show" in Chicago right now that trumps everything on TV. lol!!!

The bottom line question here is -

How many fans from NIU will be at the game?

[California Cajun]

Any suggestion of NIU delivering the Chicago market for the Independence Bowl sounds like pure lunacy to me.

The only people interested in a minor bowl to me are the people putting it on and the fans of the teams involved provided they are close enough. No well-known team is going to go there unless they had a bad year.

If I'm an average NIU fan, chances are I'm not going to travel 900 miles to watch my 6-6 team get after it. If I'm an average UL fan, chances are I will travel 200 miles to watch my 6-6 team play a team my school has a long history with and has been flapping their gums of late about superiority.

If the announced crowd is 30,000 and you're hard pressed to see half that many there with dorky announcers calling the action, what is the future of that game? A lot of people are likely to watch a Home Alone rerun, play with the kids, or walk the dog because they lost interest. I'd think the best shot the game had would be if it held the attention of Louisiana audiences.

[4LSU]

_ I think it was all TV but I dont' agree with ESPN on how a school that draws interest from .002 percent of its market can suddenly pull in TV viewers.

Old rivals LA vs LA would have had a much higher national interest. _

Two things come to my mind. One, if there was no TV network broadcasting the I-Bowl, the Cajuns are a lock for this game.

Two, the network carrying the I-Bowl is thinking potential of exposure for advertisers to the greatest available market of sports fans in general and not to fans of any certain team. Which of their choices had the largest potential market of sports fans considering they might well see the La market as locked up already with a La team in the bowl?

As you say...jmo