Bowl Season 2022-23 Annual Report

2022-23 ANNUAL REPORT

A Celebration of College Football

DIRECTOR

Celebrating Tradition

One of the greatest and longest running traditions in our country, Bowl Season continues to hold an important place on the sports calendar. It promotes the game of college football by providing meaningful experiences and life-long memories for players, coaches, fans, universities and communities across the country. I continue to be honored and privileged to promote the bowl system, and to share the stories that make Bowl Season so unique.

There have never been as many major changes occurring in intercollegiate athletics at one time as there are right now. The new NIL environment, the heavily populated transfer portal, and conference realignment have combined to create a challenging landscape for football coaches and their programs. Despite having to adjust, bowl games continue to provide the same unique and meaningful experience for the student-athletes as they have for over 100 years.

As always, everything we do is intended to bring value to the Bowl Season membership by promoting the entire bowl system as well as the game of college football. Last year we were able to build momentum around several of our recently created initiatives. The Bowl Season Stories podcast featured some fantastic guests, fueling a steady increase in overall audience, while our social media campaigns earned more views than we’ve ever had. The Bowl Bound shirt program also grew in popularity, bringing sustainability to the celebration around student-athletes and their teams earning bowl eligibility.

The Bowl Season brand continues to grow and develop, as have our relationships with new and current corporate partners; all of which has led to some exciting new business opportunities which we continue to foster. Our focus remains squarely on the future growth of Bowl Season, both promotionally and operationally.

We continue to maintain a high level of communication with the leaders of college football. Bowl Season has an important role to play in the expansion to a 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024. It is important to us all that we continue to work collaboratively with the commissioners of the 10 FBS conferences to ensure that Bowl Season remains a meaningful component of the college football season,

both within an expanded playoff and for the majority of teams who will benefit from the bowl game experience to close out a successful season.

Our television viewership continues to thrive. This past year the 40 non-CFP bowl games averaged over three million people per telecast; 30 games had more than two million viewers, 14 had more than three million, 10 had more than four million and nine games had more than five million. That outrates any alternative sports television programming (other than the NFL) during December and January. In addition, more than 1.5 million people attended bowl games live in person.

The foundation of Bowl Season remains - providing unique opportunities for all involved, whether that’s leaving a legacy with a program-changing victory, seeing rare high-profile matchups, catching the emergence of next year’s new stars, or honoring goodbyes to some college football heroes. While many programs plan on a bowl trip almost every season, the opportunity to simply compete in a bowl game is a thrill for many others.

Thank you to everyone who helps make our bowl games happen. It is all due to the tireless efforts of the bowl organizations and their conference partners who recognize how meaningful bowl games are to our membership.

Bowl Season is truly an annual celebration of college football, and we look forward to celebrating this great game for many years to come.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

Nick Carparelli Executive Director, Bowl Season

VISION

Bowl Season is an annual celebration of college football.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Bowl Season promotes the game of college football by providing meaningful experiences and life-long memories for players, coaches, fans, universities and communities across the country.

MISSION GAME PLAN

Bowl Season – The Association

Bowl Season serves as the collective association of every college football bowl game. This organization serves its membership by focusing on:

• Communication and advocacy with the stakeholders in college football.

• Creating operational efficiencies by expanding business relationships, forming strategic partnerships and enhancing professional development opportunities.

• Revenue generation through corporate partnerships and the creation & development of new assets.

Bowl Season – The Time of Year

Bowl Season is a time of year when American sports fans celebrate the game of college football. Beginning in mid-December and running through early January, we use this platform to:

• Communicate how meaningful bowl games are to everyone involved by acting as the leading voice for college football’s postseason.

• Market the games and sport to the millions of fans who love college football through strategic and creative initiatives.

• Promote the value that bowl games provide to the sport, its stakeholders, participants and host communities.

Jeff Hundley CHAIR Allstate Sugar Bowl

Steve Beck VICE CHAIR Military Bowl presented by Peraton

John Saccenti TREASURER SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl

Danny Morrison SECRETARY Duke's Mayo Bowl

Derrick Fox AT-LARGE REPRESENTATIVE Valero Alamo Bowl

Mark Neville PAST CHAIR San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl

Missy Setters PAST CHAIR Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl

David Fletcher PAST CHAIR TaxAct Texas Bowl

2022-23 Bowl Season

43

Bowl Games

THE MOST IN ANY ONE SEASON

Experienced by:

10K+ STUDENT-ATHLETES PARTICPATED

1.56M FANS IN ATTENDANCE

179M TELEVISION VIEWERS

84

The number of teams that participated in Bowl Season — the most in any one season making this year the biggest celebration of college football ever!

36 18 110

The number of states represented by teams in this year’s bowl games.

The total number of states hosting bowl games.

ACC career record touchdown passes for Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman, the last 3 coming in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl

Sam HARTMAN

544

The total yards passing for Kansas QB Jalon Daniels, a AutoZone Liberty Bowl record. He also set the AutoZone Liberty Bowl record for completions (27), TDs (5) and TDs scored (6).

78

The the number of different universities hosted by the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in their 86-year history. The most of any bowl game ever.

4,744 AND 40

The number of yards and touchdowns, respectively, that Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed passed for on the season (leading the nation). He got to those final totals by passing for 497 yards and four touchdowns in the Carriers New Orleans Bow (both records for that game).

3.54K

The number of television viewers for the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl The most viewers to watch any television program on any network on Friday, December 23, 2022.

4

The number of active bowl games played in Major League Baseball stadiumsPinstripe Bowl (Yankee Stadium), the Holiday Bowl (Petco Park), Fenway Bowl (Fenway Park), and Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Chase Field)

$ 375M

Total payouts from the non-CFP bowl games to the participating conferences and institutions this past year.

The number of consecutive games won by Fresno State in 2022, capped off with a 29-6 victory in the 2022 Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Presented by Stifel. The Bulldogs became the first team to ever start 1-4 and finish with 10 wins.

The number of rushing yards for Southern Miss running back Frank Gore, Jr. in this year’s LendingTree Bowl, an all-time Bowl Season record.

2022-23 Final Standings

Progressive Bowl Challenge Cup | Created by

The Mid-American Conference (the MAC) won the 2022-23 Progressive Bowl Challenge Cup, posting a winning percentage of .667 with a 4-2 record during Bowl Season. Created in 2002 by ESPN as a competition among the 10 FBS conferences during college football’s postseason, the MAC won its first outright title. Previously the MAC tied for the top honor in 2011-12 with Conference USA.

WINNER!

4-2 Record

Frank GORE JR.

Extra Yard for Teachers is Bowl Season’s designated community initiative. The College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation’s primary cause platform, Extra Yard for Teachers is dedicated to elevating the teaching profession by inspiring and empowering teachers.

For the second consecutive year, every bowl game came together to honor local teachers in each respective market as part of the Big Day for Teachers on Sept. 20, 2022. Part of Extra Yard for Teachers Week, The Big Day is a designated day where the college football community celebrates educators.

Each bowl game was provided with a $1,000 DonorsChoose gift card through Extra Yard for Teachers to present to a local teacher on The Big Day, with encouragement to do anything additional to celebrate them.

The partnership includes the opportunity to participate in an Extra Yard for Teachers grant-matching program for teachers during Bowl Season. Available to all bowl games, it has the potential to bring $500,000 in additional support to teachers nationwide.

ALL-IN: For the second consecutive year, every bowl game celebrated teachers as part of Extra Yard for Teachers' Big Day in September.

Bowls have a tradition of giving back to their communities, with hundreds of millions of dollars going to worthy charities and causes over the years.

Bowl Season was a topic of conversation as a mainstay tradition amid a myriad of changes that college football is going through (College Football Playoff expansion, NIL, etc.). Bowl Season’s role in the business of sports was a consistent topic. Bowl Season’s total earned media results for the year included a reach of 1.28B for a total value of $2.51M (through January 31, 2023).

COAST TO COAST: Nationally and regionally, Bowl Season received coverage throughout college football season.

STORYLINES: No matter the time of year, Bowl Season remains a huge part of college football.

BOWL SEASON was part CoverageTraditionalof as the season reached its crescendo.

NEWS WORTHY: Maintream, business or sports media, Bowl Season is part of the discussion.

Trends & Growth

Bowl Season’s KICKOFF e-newsletter completed its third season in 2022-23, continuing to celebrate college football and our unique postseason. Our distribution base saw substantial growth, now with more than 17,000 subscribers through proactive efforts and signups. We’d like to give special recognition to Kevin McNamara, who did a great job as our lead writer for content and coverage.

40.5% AVERAGE OPEN RATE (Last year open rate: 35.75%; industry average is 25%)

BowlSeason.com

The overall re-brand of Bowl Season in 2020 included revamping the organization’s website, enhancing and improving its features while making it more fanfriendly. The efforts have produced significant growth.

OVERALL GROWTH

GAMEDAY LIVE

Bowl Season Gameday Live continued its success in its second year with 104,488 total pageviews throughout Bowl Season. The best way to follow all the bowl games, fans could access live coverage of each and every bowl game from the Gameday Live landing page, which included live TV broadcasts, radio and real-time stats.

PROMOTIONS

GAME NOTES

Bowl Season has produced a daily set of game notes for national and local media covering the bowl games for the last three years. Bowl Season worked with each bowl game’s communications staff, as well as the respective SIDs of daily participating teams as part of the distribution.

The notes kept track of records and top performances, as well as interesting anecdotes and talking points to help media in their coverage of Bowl Season.

Bowl Season and First Team Ventures

joined together again with Bowl Season

Radio, providing exclusive live national radio/audio play-by-play coverage for 18 college bowl games.

TOTAL REACH MORE THAN 34M

ALL GAMES AIRED ON SIRIUS XM Also streamed live on The Varsity Network, Tune-In and Audacy apps, as well as BowlSeason.com.

Top Markets

Studio halftime and in-game featured other bowl games with interviews and highlights.

Bowl Season Radio aired on terrestrial radio stations coast-to-coast including Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, Portland, Birmingham and Honolulu.

Bowl Season Stories — the official podcast of Bowl Season — completed a second successful season in 2022-23. The Bowl Season Stories podcast continues to feature the top names in college football — from all-time greats to current analysts, broadcasters and bowl executives — talking about the storylines, trends and traditions that make Bowl Season and the games so special.

CUMULATIVE LISTENS OVER LAST TWO YEARS

2021-22 SEASON

42.4K

TOTAL LISTENERS (21 episodes)

2022-23 SEASON

MISSED AN EPISODE?

Catch All the Past Episodes on BowlSeason.com

22.7K

TOTAL LISTENERS (20 episodes)

TOTAL

65.1K LISTENERS (41 episodes)

1.6KAvg. EpisodePer

Produced by Tony Fay Public Relations, fans can find and subscribe to Bowl Season Stories via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or download episodes on BowlSeason.com. The podcast will return for the 2023 college football season.

2022-23 FEATURED GUESTS

Nick Florence

Laine Higgins

Shehan Jeyarajah

Mark Meadows

Greg Nortman

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•

•

•

•

•

• Steve Hogan

• Mark Holtzman

• Sean Johnson

• Brad Michaels

• Pat Ryan

Jerry Silverstein

• Jeff Hundley

• Blake Lawrence

• Lea Miller-Tooley

• David Saphirstein

• Tre Stallings

Jean-Jacques Taylor

• Greg McGarity

• Doug Mosley

• Jeff Siembieda

• Rob Steeger

• Gary Stokan

• Johnny Williams

Jamal Anderson Bill Belichick

Amanda Christovich Deion Branch

Thaddeus Bullard Callie Bundy

Molly McGrath Joey McGuire

Don McPherson

Brady Quinn Ben Skowronek

Kordell Stewart

Charlie Ward Roy Williams

Ryan McGee

Frank Gore, Jr.

Scott Hanson

Rachel Lindsay EJ Manuel Jacob Hester

Dave Clawson Ross Dellenger Stephon Gilmore P.J. Fleck

Pat Forde Matt Fortuna

Kym Adair • Nick Akrap • Dan Barrett • Steve Beck • Lynn Boggs

Jackson Burnett

David Eads

Steve Ehrhart

Billy Ferrante

Jason Gannon

Daryl Garvin

Jay Hertwig

Continuing a tradition that started last year, Bowl Season is working with athletic directors and coaches to celebrate teams becoming bowl eligible with the Bowl Bound shirt program. Once a team has achieved its sixth win, it receives what’s become the memento that all college football players crave: Bowl Bound shirts.

Unifi Manufacturing is part of a unique partnership along with Vapor Apparel that produced the new Bowl Bound shirts. Unifi, the makers of REPREVE — a sustainable fiber composed of recycled plastic water bottles, is changing the game with Vapor, the official partner for Bowl Season’s apparel campaign which focuses on both elite performance and sustainability.

The Bowl Bound shirts first appeared in 2021, and Bowl Season saw an opportunity to elevate the overall campaign and shine a light on sustainability in the environment at the same time. REPREVE sustainable fiber is shipped to Vapor, where it creates the activewear for all bowl-bound teams with performance shirts, hoodies and quarter-zips. Each shirt is made out of 16 recycled water bottles.

The success of the Bowl Bound shirt program in 2022 was a rallying point for all the bowls, but it’s amazing to see how the players and coaches have embraced the product.

PUNCHING THEIR TICKET: UCF became bowl eligible with its sixth win on Oct. 29 vs. Cincinnati.

Viewership is Strong

The average bowl game on ESPN had 13 percent more viewers than the average regular season game on the network. Compared to other sports, bowls also brought in a higher average than regular season NBA, MLB and NHL averages on ESPN last season.

2022-23 CFP Semifinals

The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on ESPN were the most-watched non-New Year’s Day Semifinals of the CFP era with 22.1M viewers.

• The bowls were the two most-viewed individual Semifinals since 2017-18 and rank as the fourth and fifth best, respectively.

• Both games are among the top-five non-NFL telecasts on broadcast or cable since the start of 2022, and reached more than 42M total viewers between them, 11 percent year-over-year growth.

• The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl secured 22.4M viewers, the mostwatched primetime CFP Semifinal since Year 1 and a top-20 cable telecast of all-time.

• The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl scored 21.7M viewers the third-most watched afternoon CFP Semifinal of the CFP era.

Max DUGGAN

Adonai MITCHELL

MOST-WATCHED NON-CFP BOWLS

Seven bowl games posted their best audiences in at least five years, while eight games had their best audience in at least four years.

THE 40 NON-CFP BOWL GAMES AVERAGED 3.03M VIEWERS ACROSS