So far, after the New Orleans, Champs Sports, GMAC, Las Vegas, Ft. Worth, Hawaii, MPC Computers, Motor City, Independence, Insight, Houston, and Alamo Bowls, the lowest attendance so far (or the lowest attendance I could find) is 27,000. The best so far in attendance was last night's Alamo Bowl, with 65,000, followed by the Motor City Bowl with 52,000. There must be a lot that follow Toledo and UConn, or their is something in the water in Detroit that makes people come out to the Motor City Bowl. (Please note though, I still can not find the attendance on the GMAC Bowl).

27,000 as the lowest attendance is not spectacular, but in line with other years its not a backbreaking low attendance.

The real challenge comes tonight in the Silicon Valley Classic in which there is no regionally close team and both teams either haven't played in a bowl for a very long time (NIU), or they have never played in a bowl (Troy). If the Silicon Valley Classic gets at least 20,000 in the stands, I would say its a success given their isn't either a Pac 10, WAC or MWC team in it this year. Dekalb, IL is the closest to the San Jose, CA bowl, so their the regional team despite being 2,000 miles from bowl game. Lets root for a well-attended Silicon Valley Classic, shall we?

No. Illinois vs Troy.

If this were a regular season game it would be little watched, no offense to either program.

This game is a prime example of why some feel there are too many bowls.

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Who says that there were at least 27,000 in attendance?

I got the data from ESPN box scores. Yes, there's no way of officially confirming what the exact number is, as of yet, unless there is a source that has it already.

I'm just saying, based on this info, if its true, 27,000 is not real bad or backbreaking.

This thread is more about wondering how the Silicon Valley Classic will hold up without a "western" team this year, and two bowl newcomers. I think it might be the most vulnerable, this year, as far as attendance goes.

Ft. Worth bowl was around 13k.

Actually, I think Wyoming/UCLA and Oregon St./ND are better examples of why there are too many bowls.

Well, I'm watching the Silicon Valley Classic right now, and the stands are looking very sparse. It doesn't help that its being played in the stadium of the team that had the lowest average attendance in college football this year (SJSU). That on top of the nearest team being 2,000 miles away. Fresno State was at this bowl the first 4 years. On top of that, they had a delay in starting the game because of a local power outage and ESPN cut their broadcast because of technical problems. Its hard to maintain the national audience. Although I understand that in the last few years the viewership of bowls has been going up.

I personally like the number of bowls, and I don't think there is enough. Akron should have been able to have gone to a bowl, and an exception should have been made of La Tech (6-6) to have played Akron in a 29th bowl.

I forgot the Ft. Worth Bowl. Those two teams were also geographic misfits for the location of that bowl. So that's the 2nd most vulnerable, and the 13K cetainly sounds right for two teams located that far east of Ft. Worth. Good thing its going to the MWC with TCU next year if it survives.

But I think this Silicon Valley Classic tops low attendance. I would guess that there is less than 10,000 in the stands. Can this bowl survive? If it doesn't, will they set up a replacement bowl in Fresno where the old California (Raisin) Bowl used to be? Cause if Fresno can make this bowl every year, it seems to do well enough for the stands. But without Pac 10, WAC or even MWC reps, its hard to see many people landing there to watch a bowl game.

NIU is looking good though.

Well, on the ESPN Box Score, they report a Silicon Valley Classic attendance of 21,456. That would be a 2/3rd's-filled SJSU stadium. Hard to believe from what I saw last night on the TV. If its true, then I would say it was a success, given the distance this bowl was to the two teams playing in it.

Those Gosh Darn Bowls! :D

Moved to BCS Banter Forum: 1/4/2004

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