Bowls with regional appeal faired best

[NewsCopy]

  Nineteen of 32 bowl games — including the national championship game — showed a decline in attendance this postseason. The two new bowl games — the EagleBank and St. Petersburg bowls — had announced attendance figures of less than 30,000.

The Independence Bowl showed a decline of 5,476 fans from a year ago. The 2008 matchup between Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois drew an announced attendance of 41,567 down from 47,043 the previous season.

The rest of the story

By Scott Ferrell • sferrell@gannett.com • January 18, 2009 2:00 am

[Hammer58]

Talk about split personality! Before the game when we UL fans _____ed that inviting NIU over UL was a poor economic move that would not bring fans from NIU Missy tried to sell the fact that NIU fans would help the area more and cited her inclusion of "what to do in the piney woods of redneck north Louisiana" brouchures as proof that NIU fans would flock to the game. Now she is basically using our argument that the attendence was not as good because of the non-regional opponent (NIU). I hope Michot does not let this issue fade from memeory and reminds her of her own words, both before and after the game, when they come to his committe for funding.

Man, they must be drinking some bad shine up there in S'port. Either that or all the generations of cousins marrying cousins is finally catching up to them.

[NOCajun]

_ Talk about split personality! Before the game when we UL fans _____ed that inviting NIU over UL was a poor economic move that would not bring fans from NIU Missy tried to sell the fact that NIU fans would help the area more and cited her inclusion of "what to do in the piney woods of redneck north Louisiana" brouchures as proof that NIU fans would flock to the game. Now she is basically using our argument that the attendence was not as good because of the non-regional opponent (NIU). I hope Michot does not let this issue fade from memeory and reminds her of her own words, both before and after the game, when they come to his committe for funding.

Man, they must be drinking some bad shine up there in S'port. Either that or all the generations of cousins marrying cousins is finally catching up to them. _

You so MEAN!!!

[Membertou]

Before people start wishing the demise of the Independence Bowl, it would be wise to remember that the only reason a 6-6 UL was even in consideration for a bowl appearance was because there were 34 bowls and 68 spots available this year. Short of winning the SunBelt, UL's best chance for a bowl is when there are as many bowls operating as possible. If there are only 28-30 bowls with 56-60 spots, the chances of the Sun Belt getting two teams in a bowl is very low. Be careful what you wish for.

[Hammer58]

_ Before people start wishing the demise of the Independence Bowl, it would be wise to remember that the only reason a 6-6 UL was even in consideration for a bowl appearance was because there were 34 bowls and 68 spots available this year. Short of winning the SunBelt, UL's best chance for a bowl is when there are as many bowls operating as possible. If there are only 28-30 bowls with 56-60 spots, the chances of the Sun Belt getting two teams in a bowl is very low. Be careful what you wish for. _

NOt wishing for the bowl's demise. Just wanting to make sure that the folks running it make picks for the right reasons and not due to some ill conceived notion of elitism by one party.