[ SPORTS ]
The Best Month of The Year For College Football
SANTA IS BRINGING BOWL GAMES GALORE
BY RYAN G . COOK
MELINDA NAGY / SHUTTERSTOCK . COM
For many , December is their favorite month for many reasons . Holiday parties , décor , food and beverage , and of course Santa Claus tops the list . For college football fans , December is all about Bowl games . In total , 38 bowl games will be played in December which means endless hours of games to bet on during the holidays . By no means is this random . The NCAA scheduling is strategic and dates back many decades to capture people at home for the holidays , on vacation , and away from work . The games start mid- December and run through the end of the month with the National Championship in early January .
An estimated $ 6 billion will be wagered on annual college football this 22-23 season with the majority bet on bowl games in December . Let ’ s just say Vegas looks forward to the month every year , just as much as March Madness . In comparison , March
Madness will do about $ 4 billion in waged bets this coming March 2023 .
Each conference will receive about $ 4 million for each team that plays in a non-conference bowl and about $ 6 million from the college football playoff for each team selected for a playoff game . This money comes from the TV network agreements which the NCAA and League Conferences negotiate , hence the allocation delivered to the conference instead of the individual teams . It is a gross disbursement to the conference with the majority going to the teams that played in the bowl games , somewhat mirroring the NCAA Men ’ s Basketball Tournament and March Madness TV agreements .
NCAA Division I football is divided in two sectors , FBS and FCS . FBS stands for Football Bowl Subdivision , and it gets the name for the end of the season bowl game platform that estimates $ 4 billion plus in gross revenues . In total 131 + teams and ten conferences make up the FBS , five of which make up the Power 5 which include the SEC , Big 10 , Pac-12 , ACC , and the Big 12 . In the last ten years , 10 out of 10 Champions have been from the SEC conference with Alabama winning 7 of them .
The FCS , Football Championship Subdivision , is basically the 2nd division for NCAA Division I and was known as Division I-AA from 1978-2005 . The likes of South Dakota St , Sacramento St , Montana St , and North Dakota St make up this subdivision . Now this conference does produce NFL talent such as Carson Wentz of North Dakota St , Cooper Kupp of Eastern Washington , and Shaquille Leonard of South Carolina State , however in comparison it ’ s minimal to the FBS . The FBS provides a field of 24 teams to compete in a single-elimination tournament at the end of the season . Team pairings are determined according to regions and teams from the same conference and will not be paired for first or second round games . In the last ten years North Dakota State has won the Championship 8 out of 10 times .
Whether FBS or FCS , NCAA Division I football is extremely entertaining come season end ; what ’ s great about college football is that it is also single game elimination and every game matters leading up to playoff time and post season play . December 2022 is sure to be a great football playoff with Georgia , Ohio State , Michigan , and TCU leading the charge and not too far behind , Tennessee , LSU , USC , Alabama , Clemson , Utah , and Penn State . Stay tuned …
BAY WINDOW 87