Little Caesar's Bowl Threatened....

This week, the Big 10 announced their Big Move, which is to host a bowl game at Ford Field in conjunction with the Detroit Lions.  The game will guarantee a Big 10 participant--something the Little Caesar's Bowl rarely had--and be held a little later in the bowl calendar...12/30 to be specific.

When asked about the fate of the existing bowl, Lions President said he didn't think Detroit could support two bowl games.  I would add that based on the current calendar, the games would only be 4 days apart or so.

Ken Hoffman, who runs the LC Bowl says he doesn't agree, but he has also been studying options, perhaps betraying his true feeling.  The sponsor deal is up after next year, and he says he has looked at other cities.  There was even talk of Comerica, which appear to have been shelved and wisely, in my opinion.

The loss of this game would be a shame.  Not that it won't be replaced with something else--the current glut of bowl games is going to require teams and I don't see anyone trying to change that.  It just means rather than an accessible and generally well-attended game will be replaced with an empty stadium in...where ever.

The overall promise of the game never materialized.  The Big 10 only sent a team a couple times and it was normally the MAC vs. the Sun Belt, which is nice but not exactly the matchup you'd like to see.

This is all part of the shifting of college football.  As noted earlier this year, the bowl system is pretty much a joke.  These games are awful money-losers, ill-attended and generally not watched either.  The Military Bowl BG played in was a disaster on almost every level.  I cannot imagine how long this is sustainable...