Actually, considering one of the teams will be from MAC means - I'm guessing - that attendance will really suffer, at least in terms of Canadians. There really aren't any big-name MAC teams. Even the Big East doesn't have huge names, but the bigger ones they do have won't be in this International Bowl ... The biggest names (IMO) from the Big East are Louisville, Pitt, West Virginia, and maybe Rutgers, Cincy and Syracuse.
But I don't see it as a threat to the Argos at all ... no matter how many people go.
They tried to bring this NCAA basketball to Toronto a few years back, and it was a colossal failure.
The American Bowl NFL games only sold out once. The first game, which was full of American NfL fans. The rest weren't close to sellouts.
Now they think people in Toronto will flock to American university football? When the U of T can't draw more then 100 fans? The people running this event are going to lose their shirt if those American fans don't show up.
I swear if I ever hit a serious jackpot I’m turning the Varsity blues around God help me…
As for the game Im all for it. I don’t see the CFL in competition with NCAA ball, and it is the training ground for the best football players in both the CFL and NFL, and the product is exciting. Sorry.
Just an event to fill a day at the Dome, when you own something like a stadium, you want it rented 365 days a year if you can find people to rent it out.
I think the game will draw a good crowd if its Pittsburgh, because it within driving distance. I think these teams will be excited to play in Canada, because there is some great talent to recruit from. Some of the Canadian athletes can be really great finds. My Boston College has Kevin Challenger out of Montreal and this kid is a hard nose player who probably will play in the CFL.
I feel that the attendance will be respectable-it won't sell out; these "lesser" bowls seldom do- but I think fans of the schools will look at it as an excuse to take a little vacation to a city like Toronto-that's what some of these bowl games draw on as well, not just the game.
One question, possibly rhetorical: Why the "international bowl?" Why not the Toronto Bowl or the Canada Bowl-something that more identifies where it's being played..."International" could be anywhere.
It's just a case of Rogers wooing the NCAA for a date there at their stadium, I don't think it has any ties to the NFL. Rogers would love an NFL team to play out of Rogers Centre also, understandably for money making. Again, makes sense from a purely financial point of view.
I don't think this game means the NFL is coming to Toronto. They have more US cities to bring teams to than Toronto, plus the Rogers Centre wouldn't fit NFL standards.
As for International Bowl, I think the reason why they called it that was it International to US/NCAA. I agree i don't like the name. I think the seems like Canada is a very distant place. The Canada Bowl would be a better name, but some people in the CFL wouldn't be happy because they might think it's stepping on the CFL. Can you hear it, there is nothing Canadian about the Canada Bowl.
Here is the inside on NCAA and NFL relations, its not as good as you think. The NFL hates that the NCAA is tax exempt organization and doesn't have to pay its players. Colleges bring in more money than the NFL teams.
Western Michigan will be the MAC's team.
The Big East team will be decided this weekend, as West Virginia, South Florida, and Cincinnati could potentially end up tied for the 3rd, 4th and 5th spots.
Rogers Centre crowd of 26,717. Thats what the attendance numbers were today. I’am impressed Toronto, and it was a terrible game that turned out to be interesting. I think the International Bowl will be back :thup: