The Slow, Inevitable Death of the Bowl Game

"It should have been obvious that this format would render the pageantry of the bowls irrelevant. The power brokers who created the national-title game back in 1998 worried as much: "In an effort to focus on a championship game," the Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said way back at the start, "we're putting all the other bowls in a negative position.""

"Here's the reality: The bowls have been dying a slow death in terms of cultural importance since 1998, when the college-football power brokers instituted the first national-championship game open to teams from every major conference. The move to a four-team playoff in 2014 hastened the decline of the old bowl system, and last year's expansion to a 12-team playoff put it on life support."

Notre Dame and nine other programs declined bowl bids this year after being excluded from the expanded College Football Playoff, prompting public criticism. The move to a national-championship game in 1998 began diminishing bowl significance, and the shift to a four-team playoff in 2014 accelerated that decline. Last year's expansion to a 12-team playoff reduced remaining bowls to consolation games with no championship stakes. The best teams now compete in the playoff, while other postseason matchups function as late-season scrimmages. Historically, bowls once offered limited national-television exposure and career-launching visibility for players.

Read at The Atlantic