Syracuse bowl watch: The long walk to nowhere

While the Syracuse Orange are sitting at 1-5, we have covered the many ways in which a season with insanely weird schedules and lack of full competition could lead to a bowl game at any record. However, as the newly branded Bowl Season grows ever closer, the chances that a one win Orange make a bowl grows smaller with every bowl cancellation that comes across the wire.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to many. For those who are familiar with the ins and outs of bowls, the structure of one is pretty standard, regardless of size. There is a small Bowl Committee that hires mostly temporary staff closer to the event to staff a myriad of pre-game events, coordinate local activities with teams for charity, and work the actual game itself. All in all, between travel accommodations, the lavish school payouts and the swag bags, a combination of television revenue, sponsors, and suite revenue mostly footed by the schools attending allows the whole thing to be relatively profitable for the venues hosting. In a year where sponsors have less cash than ever, fans are limited, and schools are extremely hesitant to co-sign any kind of unnecessary travel, all facets of revenue for a bowl are impacted. Thus, the Holiday Bowl will not be the last bowl we see opting to avoid hassle and thin margins and punt until 2021.

This becomes more of an issue for Syracuse, who was never aiming for a large bowl anchored by tradition to begin with. (Even our beloved Bad Boy tradition has been eschewed.) As we inch closer towards Bowl Season (TM), it becomes more likely that some bowls that this is in fact, not the season, and reduce Syracuse’s already slim chances to zero.

However it is not all doom and gloom for the Orange. There is a chance that with so many bowl cancellations, the NCAA are pressured by coaches who feel that the goalposts on extra practices were unfairly moved on them in season, that everyone reaps the benefits of extra postseason practices. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s far more likely than the New York Yankees, part of a group over $8 billion in debt, wanting to put together an inconsequential football game with no fans.