[82lsju]

Someone online said that it costs about $750k to send a football team to a bowl game. If the conference distribution income doesn't cover that, and if there's a high likelihood that a program wouldn't be able to sell enough of their ticket purchase obligation, then there might be good reasons to not go to a bowl game.  But in the interests of getting guys more practice time and giving them the full season experience, I would say athletes and fans expect teams to participate in bowl games when invited.

In the last 5-10+ years or so, a number of high-profile players - including CMac, IIRC - opted out of participating in bowl games due to injury concerns.  Any thoughts on whether NILs and other changes in the FB financial landscape might affect that trend?

I would add the changes in transfer rules and the transfer portal as additional factors in who may or may not want to play in a bowl game.

[82lsju]

Someone online said that it costs about $750k to send a football team to a bowl game. If the conference distribution income doesn't cover that, and if there's a high likelihood that a program wouldn't be able to sell enough of their ticket purchase obligation, then there might be good reasons to not go to a bowl game.  But in the interests of getting guys more practice time and giving them the full season experience, I would say athletes and fans expect teams to participate in bowl games when invited.

In the last 5-10+ years or so, a number of high-profile players - including CMac, IIRC - opted out of participating in bowl games due to injury concerns.  Any thoughts on whether NILs and other changes in the FB financial landscape might affect that trend?

I would add the changes in transfer rules and the transfer portal as additional factors in who may or may not want to play in a bowl game.