FC: Peach Bowl CEO has some thoughts about opt-outs..

[Midnighter]

Think this is a pretty rational, clear eyed look at the state of college football. He seems to be a practical guy who 'gets' why things are the way they are for some players. Good read I think. Makes good points about the CFP teams not suffering any major opt outs and that expanding the playoff *might* help.

"You hate that the kids miss the bowl experience and the opportunity to finish with their team what they started, but we fully understand that each kid has an individual decision to make,” Stokan said. "With Kenny Picket and Kenneth Walker, in talking with their parents, coaches and agent, felt that this was the best course to go down. We understand it."

So, what are the best options to make that bowl experience more enticing for those star players who opt out?

"That is the $64,000 question or whatever number you want to put to it,” Stokan said. "I think the potential expansion of the CFP, if indeed they do expand, could have some positive ramifications for players wanting to continue to play for a championship.

"That will be interesting to see if there is an expansion and when the expansion is, if the players continue to play,” Stokan said. "I don't think you've seen players from Cincinnati, Alabama, Georgia or Michigan opt out."

That would impact star players, but what about the rest of the bowls that are outside the playoff? The opt-outs could still be an issue, one that Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) might not fix.

"I've heard some media talk about, 'Well, why didn't Chick-fil-A pay Pickett and Walker?'” Stokan asked rhetorically. "If they made a decision not to play, it's because they have the potential to make millions of dollars. I don't think they would decide to play for x-thousand dollars even if someone was willing to do that. That doesn't make sense to me."

Peach Bowl CEO talks opt-outs, expansion and future of bowl experience

Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III opted out of the Chick-fil-A Bowl Game. Will that have an impact on the future of the bowl experience?

www.sportingnews.com

Meanwhile, the folks at Saturday Down South agree an expanded playoff will help with the teams participating in it, but won't help with the many other bowl games that are not part of the CFP.

Why an expanded Playoff won’t fix the bowl opt-out issue

Unfortunately, we can't expect a postseason tweak will result in a cosmic shift in mindset.

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

Some worthwhile nuggets in both of these articles:

• According to Peach Bowl CEO Stokan, ESPN makes more money during the two weeks of bowl season than they do at any other two week period during the year.
• SDS says the minimum NFL contract for first-year players is 62% more than what it was in 2015. Wow.

 

[PSUJam]

Think this is a pretty rational, clear eyed look at the state of college football. He seems to be a practical guy who 'gets' why things are the way they are for some players. Good read I think. Makes good points about the CFP teams not suffering any major opt outs and that expanding the playoff *might* help.

"You hate that the kids miss the bowl experience and the opportunity to finish with their team what they started, but we fully understand that each kid has an individual decision to make,” Stokan said. "With Kenny Picket and Kenneth Walker, in talking with their parents, coaches and agent, felt that this was the best course to go down. We understand it."

So, what are the best options to make that bowl experience more enticing for those star players who opt out?

"That is the $64,000 question or whatever number you want to put to it,” Stokan said. "I think the potential expansion of the CFP, if indeed they do expand, could have some positive ramifications for players wanting to continue to play for a championship.

"That will be interesting to see if there is an expansion and when the expansion is, if the players continue to play,” Stokan said. "I don't think you've seen players from Cincinnati, Alabama, Georgia or Michigan opt out."

That would impact star players, but what about the rest of the bowls that are outside the playoff? The opt-outs could still be an issue, one that Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) might not fix.

"I've heard some media talk about, 'Well, why didn't Chick-fil-A pay Pickett and Walker?'” Stokan asked rhetorically. "If they made a decision not to play, it's because they have the potential to make millions of dollars. I don't think they would decide to play for x-thousand dollars even if someone was willing to do that. That doesn't make sense to me."

Peach Bowl CEO talks opt-outs, expansion and future of bowl experience

Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III opted out of the Chick-fil-A Bowl Game. Will that have an impact on the future of the bowl experience?

www.sportingnews.com

Meanwhile, the folks at Saturday Down South agree an expanded playoff will help with the teams participating in it, but won't help with the many other bowl games that are not part of the CFP.

Why an expanded Playoff won’t fix the bowl opt-out issue

Unfortunately, we can't expect a postseason tweak will result in a cosmic shift in mindset.

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

Some worthwhile nuggets in both of these articles:

• According to Peach Bowl CEO Stokan, ESPN makes more money during the two weeks of bowl season than they do at any other two week period during the year.
• SDS says the minimum NFL contract for first-year players is 62% more than what it was in 2015. Wow.

Well they can always have a NIT tournament with those who don't make the CFP!

 

[Bison13]

On the topic of the peach bowl, who do you root for? MSU and Pitt are both at the bottom of the barrel to me.

 

[LionJim]

On the topic of the peach bowl, who do you root for? MSU and Pitt are both at the bottom of the barrel to me.

You’ll find yourself rooting for MSU.

 

[91Joe95]

This will start to work itself out when they add Bowl bonus clauses to the NIL contracts.

 

[Nohow]

What fatcat Stokan doesn’t tell you is that if they used the profits from the bowls to pay the players, most bowls could pay each player $50K-$100K, i.e., x>$50,000. What the heck does the Peach Bowl CEO do anyway for his $750K salary?

 

[harjeff]

What fatcat Stokan doesn’t tell you is that if they used the profits from the bowls to pay the players, most bowls could pay each player $50K-$100K, i.e., x>$50,000. What the heck does the Peach Bowl CEO do anyway for his $750K salary?

except most bowls dont make a profit, only benefit is to ESPN for programming. Most lesser bowls end up costing the school money to go. Most cant even sell there ticket allotment, look at the Clemson game yesterday whole upperdeck was closed off and it was fairly close for Clemson and a tourist hotspot of Orlando.

 

[Classof09]

On the topic of the peach bowl, who do you root for? MSU and Pitt are both at the bottom of the barrel to me.

Common sense tells me to root for neither. That’s like choosing between Sandy and Barron. No good choice.

 

[Nohow]

except most bowls dont make a profit, only benefit is to ESPN for miprogramming. Most lesser bowls end up costing the school money to go. Most cant even sell there ticket allotment, look at the Clemson game yesterday whole upperdeck was closed off and it was fairly close for Clemson and a tourist hotspot of Orlando.

You have got to be kidding. Just because they register as non-profits and have minimal attendance doesn’t mean they don’t pay millions per team to the conferences, yes, primarily from tv. Look it up.

 

[WanderingSpectator]

Didn't players used to get insurance policies for Bowls? What if the Bowls provided x number of policies to each team and the schools could issue them to key players? Just a thought...