Image source: attcottonbowl.com
On Monday, @Yahoo_Graham, a college football and basketball writer for Yahoo!, ranked all of the 2012-13 bowl games ̶ “from absolute must-see TV to must-see-a-psychiatrist if it’s on your TV.”
So, how do these rankings compare with the latest Google Trends of college football fans searching for bowl game tickets, and the average ticket prices of bowl games on the secondary market? We took a look, and then combined all three to create our own list based on search, average ticket price and Dr. Saturday’s
must-see TV rankings.
Of the BCS games, the BCS Championship, Rose and Fiesta bowls rank in the Top 5. Although we agree with Dr. Saturday that “everyone here will watch Notre Dame-Alabama,” the Cotton Bowl, featuring Texas A&M and Oklahoma, takes our top spot today. You could buy six Cotton Bowl tickets for every BCS Championship ticket on the secondary market (on average), but Google searches for “cotton bowl tickets” relative to “bcs championship tickets” have been almost two times greater since Sunday’s BCS Selection Show. Those numbers could change after Notre Dame and Alabama announce BCS lottery ticket winners, and those left without tickets search to find the best bowl game ticket deals, or “Johnny Football” could bring home the Heisman to A&M on Saturday night, adding even more interest to the Cotton Bowl.
Here’s the complete list, with Pat Forde’s take on “Must-watch bowl games” below.
| 2012-2013 Bowl Games |
Combined Rank |
Google Interest Rank |
(Relative Search Volume) |
Avg Price Rank |
(Avg Price) | Dr. Saturday’s must-see TV Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton Bowl | 1 | 1 | 100 | 2 | $493.28 | 3 |
| BCS Championship | 2 | 2 | 57 | 1 | $2,984.90 | 1 |
| Rose Bowl | 3 | 3 | 45 | 3 | $388.21 | 6 |
| Fiesta Bowl | 4 | 4 | 37 | 4 | $318.73 | 2 |
| Alamo Bowl | 5 | 6 | 24 | 7 | $146.17 | 8 |
| Sugar Bowl | 6 | 8 | 20 | 5 | $179.75 | 5 |
| Holiday Bowl | 7 | 10 | 12 | 9 | $123.71 | 7 |
| Outback Bowl | 8 | 7 | 21 | 8 | $144.01 | 10 |
| Capital One Bowl | 9 | 9 | 19 | 12 | $98.88 | 9 |
| Pinstripe Bowl | 10 | 11 | 10 | 6 | $159.65 | 20 |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl | 11 | 20 | 0 | 11 | $99.25 | 4 |
| Orange Bowl | 12 | 5 | 31 | 17 | $87.27 | 11 |
| Music City Bowl | 13 | 12 | 6 | 29 | $53.45 | 19 |
| Liberty Bowl | 14 | 13 | 5 | 24 | $67.17 | 21 |
| Gator Bowl | 15 | 14 | 4 | 31 | $50.40 | 12 |
| Belk Bowl | 16 | 15 | 4 | 22 | $76.53 | 26 |
| MAACO Bowl | 17 | 16 | 2 | 20 | $79.16 | 13 |
| Military Bowl | 18 | 17 | 2 | 14 | $95.67 | 15 |
| Poinsettia Bowl | 19 | 18 | 2 | 16 | $89.85 | 18 |
| New Orleans Bowl | 20 | 19 | 2 | 34 | n/a | 32 |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl | 21 | 20 | 0 | 10 | $104.94 | 30 |
| Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl | 22 | 20 | 0 | 13 | $95.84 | 17 |
| Meineke Car Car Bowl | 23 | 20 | 0 | 15 | $90.02 | 31 |
| Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl | 24 | 20 | 0 | 18 | $83.27 | 23 |
| Armed Forces Bowl | 25 | 20 | 0 | 19 | $82.96 | 33 |
| Little Caesar’s Bowl | 26 | 20 | 0 | 21 | $78.17 | 34 |
| BBVA Compass Bowl | 27 | 20 | 0 | 23 | $70.30 | 25 |
| Sun Bowl | 28 | 20 | 0 | 25 | $61.87 | 29 |
| Hawaii Bowl | 29 | 20 | 0 | 26 | $60.75 | 28 |
| Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl | 30 | 20 | 0 | 27 | $56.75 | 27 |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | 31 | 20 | 0 | 28 | $55.24 | 14 |
| Independence Bowl | 32 | 20 | 0 | 30 | $52.10 | 24 |
| Russell Athletic Bowl | 33 | 20 | 0 | 32 | $43.74 | 22 |
| GoDaddy.com Bowl | 34 | 20 | 0 | 33 | n/a | 16 |
I love this game and hope it is not a typical Heisman trophy winner choking as they usually do. They choke because the are on the banquet circuit fattening up on rubber chicken and not working on their game. Johnny Football maybe different.