The NCAA Football Issues Committee approved two bowls this past week while declining two bowl applications. Approved were the Dallas Football Classic and the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in the Bronx, New York. They did not certify the bowl applications submitted from the Cure Bowl in Orlando and the Christmas Bowl in Los Angeles.

In all there will be 35 Bowls for college football fans to enjoy this year. Last year there were 34. Gone from this year’s Bowl schedule is the International Bowl which was played in Toronto. Last year there were 22,185 fans to see South Florida beat Northern Illinois 27-3. The curtain has closed on its four year run making room for another bowl. 

The Dallas Football Classic will be held Jan1st at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park and is a replacement for the Cotton Bowl which was moved to Arlington Stadium home of the Dallas Cowboys. It will feature a Big Ten team against a team from the Big 12 or Conference-USA on a rotating basis and will be televised on one of the ESPN’s network.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl will feature a team from the Big East and Big 12.

Along with certification of the two bowls, the committee also made some changes in the certification process. Certification of a bowl will now last four years instead of the present one year. The bowl agreements and alignment with conferences are done every four years so this will follow that cycle. However, the committee did reserve the right to have a review of the bowls on a year by year basis. 

Under the present NCAA rules the amount of qualified schools to fill the bowls has been steady the last three years at 71 which is cutting it close. So a new proposal has been introduced that changes the rules to allow more 6-6 teams to become bowl qualified. Not surprisingly it comes from a BCS Conference Commissioner. Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe wants the change made where a team with a .500 record against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents can be considered for At-Large Bids.

The idea is teams with 6-6 records who have played a tough schedule should get an equal shot at a bowl against a team with a better record but an easy schedule. While this sounds fair it really could hurt teams in the Sun Belt or other non-automatic BCS Conferences.

Here is an example, last year the GMAC Bowl At-Large Bid went to the Sun Belt’s Troy with a 9-3 record. With the new rules, the GMAC Bowl could have taken 6-6 Notre Dame over Troy. Now there is a tough decision. As a GMAC selection committee member you have the choice to pick ND with its huge television audience and fans who would buy out the stadium or Troy with a small fan base and no television audience.

It does point out one fact, if you don’t put fans in the stands the bowls will look for teams that do.  It is not about rewarding a team for a good season, it is about money and the more fans, the more money.

Here are NCAA licenses bowls for the 2010-14 seasons.

• AdvoCare V100 Independence
• AT&T Cotton
• AutoZone Liberty
• BCS National Championship
• Beef ‘O’ Brady’s - St. Petersburg
• Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
• Capital One
• Champs Sports
• Chick-fil-A
• Dallas Football Classic
• EagleBank
• Franklin American Mortgage Music City
• GMAC
• Gator
• Holiday
• Insight
• Kraft Fight Hunger
• Little Caesar’s Pizza
• MAACO Bowl Las Vegas
• Meineke Car Care
• New Era Pinstripe
• New Mexico
• Orange
• Outback
• Papajohns.com
• R+L Carriers New Orleans
• Rose
• San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia
• Sheraton Hawaii
• Sugar
• Sun
• Texas
• Tostitos Fiesta
• UDrove Humanitarian
• Valero Alamo

Actual dates and times have not been finalized.

Last year there was $237 million in bowl revenues which was distributed to teams and conferences.  

The NCAA Football Issues Committee is comprised of a representative from each of the 11 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences.