[Papa John]

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.

All good comments, IMO. In the case of Kansas State--my hapless hometown team when I was growing up--their head coach retired and their incoming coach is still Texas A&M's offensive coordinator, which means that he is busy trying to prepare aTm for the CFP and secure his KSU staff for the 2026 season. I'm biased of course, but I think in that situation it's understandable why the Wildcats decided that trying to field and coach a team in a nonconsequential bowl game would be a net negative.

[Papa John]

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.

All good comments, IMO. In the case of Kansas State--my hapless hometown team when I was growing up--their head coach retired and their incoming coach is still Texas A&M's offensive coordinator, which means that he is busy trying to prepare aTm for the CFP and secure his KSU staff for the 2026 season. I'm biased of course, but I think in that situation it's understandable why the Wildcats decided that trying to field and coach a team in a nonconsequential bowl game would be a net negative.