A Sea Of Red

I know we will not be bowl eligible until the 2019 season, but I was looking at the list of bowls and the tie ins associated with them. It appears there are only four that have slots for at-large teams. They are: Fiesta ( we have 2 chances at being invited to this one and they are slim and none), Cotton (same 2 chances), Chick-fil-a (see previous chances), and the Frisco Bowl (Dec. 20 on a Wednesday). So, is the Frisco Bowl the only bowl that we would ever be invited to? (Assuming we have the 6 or7 wins needed to qualify). What say you? A little ironic that the Frisco Bowl is where the FCS championship is played.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Liberty Online Bowl" in future years. As a private school is there NCAA laws against that? Phoenix online has its own stadium right ?!?!?!

jlread wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Liberty Online Bowl" in future years. As a private school is there NCAA laws against that? Phoenix online has its own stadium right ?!?!?!

Now that is some outside the box thinking! Why should LU WAIT for a Bowl Invitation? Why not instead host and sponsor it's own? Guaranteed Bowl game every year. Can't call it the Liberty Online Bowl? No worries. How about The Ministry Bowl! Think of all the Ministries that could chip in to help fund it. From Crefelo Dollar to Samaritans Purse.
I think you are on to something

Purple Haize wrote:

jlread wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Liberty Online Bowl" in future years. As a private school is there NCAA laws against that? Phoenix online has its own stadium right ?!?!?!

Now that is some outside the box thinking! Why should LU WAIT for a Bowl Invitation? Why not instead host and sponsor it's own? Guaranteed Bowl game every year. Can't call it the Liberty Online Bowl? No worries. How about The Ministry Bowl! Think of all the Ministries that could chip in to help fund it. From Crefelo Dollar to Samaritans Purse.
I think you are on to something

Gleaning for the World, World Help, Freedom 4/24. This could actually be a fantastic idea to catapult that bowl into relevance. Someone would want to carry it because of what it stands for. It could let LU talk about the community service hours given to the Lynchburg community(500k+ per year) on a national stage. Change a little of the perception of LU.

Purple Haize wrote:

jlread wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Liberty Online Bowl" in future years. As a private school is there NCAA laws against that? Phoenix online has its own stadium right ?!?!?!

Now that is some outside the box thinking! Why should LU WAIT for a Bowl Invitation? Why not instead host and sponsor it's own? Guaranteed Bowl game every year. Can't call it the Liberty Online Bowl? No worries. How about The Ministry Bowl! Think of all the Ministries that could chip in to help fund it. From Crefelo Dollar to Samaritans Purse.
I think you are on to something

I have actually suggested this before. It sounds crazy, but it's honestly not that far-fetched. The current bowl system is completely awful and attendance numbers are decreasing rapidly. No one wants to travel to Boise, Idaho in December, Detroit, MI on the day after Christmas, or spend New Years in Tampa, FL.

Yet, this would allow us to manage the date of the game and the opponent. Imagine a game on December 28th against a Vanderbilt, or a rematch against UVA. It's possible the NCAA doesn't allow this currently, but we've seen what a lawsuit can do for our football program.

Class of 20Something wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:

jlread wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "Liberty Online Bowl" in future years. As a private school is there NCAA laws against that? Phoenix online has its own stadium right ?!?!?!

Now that is some outside the box thinking! Why should LU WAIT for a Bowl Invitation? Why not instead host and sponsor it's own? Guaranteed Bowl game every year. Can't call it the Liberty Online Bowl? No worries. How about The Ministry Bowl! Think of all the Ministries that could chip in to help fund it. From Crefelo Dollar to Samaritans Purse.
I think you are on to something

Gleaning for the World, World Help, Freedom 4/24. This could actually be a fantastic idea to catapult that bowl into relevance. Someone would want to carry it because of what it stands for. It could let LU talk about the community service hours given to the Lynchburg community(500k+ per year) on a national stage. Change a little of the perception of LU.

And all proceeds go BACK to one of the Charities!!!!
I really am a genius

Purple Haize wrote:
And all proceeds go BACK to one of the Charities!!!!
I really am a genius

Or make it the

Liberty University Charity Bowl: This Christmas WE GIVE BACK!

Get big donors and charities in the house. Networking with schools and make it like a job fair for charities to get more funding and get their name out there. Each drive or quarter is "sponsored" and a brief description of what they do is given to help raise awareness.

The NFL let players wear cleats for a cause. http://www.nfl.com/mycausemycleats It raised a lot of awareness and the Charity Bowl could duplicate its success.

Hold up...... I got it... The Liberty For Wounded Worroirs Bowl!! We sponsor it. We do the same thing Wintergreen does For Wounded Worroirs day/para Olympic style Ski event... But at Snow flex. Let's get the ball rolling! Make it a week of Wounded Worroirs events at liberty sky's the limit.. 4 wheelers, Archery etc etc. players from all the participating football teams come out and spend some of there time that week enteracting with the Wounded Worroirs during the events.

Do you mean wounded warriors or worriers? There's a big difference lol

jlread wrote:Hold up...... I got it... The Liberty For Wounded Worroirs Bowl!! We sponsor it. We do the same thing Wintergreen does For Wounded Worroirs day/para Olympic style Ski event... But at Snow flex. Let's get the ball rolling! Make it a week of Wounded Worroirs events at liberty sky's the limit.. 4 wheelers, Archery etc etc. players from all the participating football teams come out and spend some of there time that week enteracting with the Wounded Worroirs during the events.

I see where you are going with that but that would be better suited for when Service Academies play in Lynchburg
The Ministry Bowl has momentum

A sarcasm font is needed.

Purple Haize wrote:

jlread wrote:Hold up...... I got it... The Liberty For Wounded Worroirs Bowl!! We sponsor it. We do the same thing Wintergreen does For Wounded Worroirs day/para Olympic style Ski event... But at Snow flex. Let's get the ball rolling! Make it a week of Wounded Worroirs events at liberty sky's the limit.. 4 wheelers, Archery etc etc. players from all the participating football teams come out and spend some of there time that week enteracting with the Wounded Worroirs during the events.

I see where you are going with that but that would be better suited for when Service Academies play in Lynchburg
The Ministry Bowl has momentum

Hahaha true. Embrace the image America has already given us! Might as well. I like it.. but.. What happens when all Ministries want to be recognized at the Ministry Bowl and the NCAA steps in ?!?!... haha Just spit balling the idea here.

jlread wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:

jlread wrote:Hold up...... I got it... The Liberty For Wounded Worroirs Bowl!! We sponsor it. We do the same thing Wintergreen does For Wounded Worroirs day/para Olympic style Ski event... But at Snow flex. Let's get the ball rolling! Make it a week of Wounded Worroirs events at liberty sky's the limit.. 4 wheelers, Archery etc etc. players from all the participating football teams come out and spend some of there time that week enteracting with the Wounded Worroirs during the events.

I see where you are going with that but that would be better suited for when Service Academies play in Lynchburg
The Ministry Bowl has momentum

Hahaha true. Embrace the image America has already given us! Might as well. I like it.. but.. What happens when all Ministries want to be recognized at the Ministry Bowl and the NCAA steps in ?!?!... haha Just spit balling the idea here.

It's why you sell Membership Tiers.

To the original point, there are always more spots available than originally thought due to a) not having enough bowl eligible teams and b) teams with six wins turning down bowl bids. That's why there are a handful of 5-7 teams that make it every year.

I have never liked Bowl Tie In's. The 9th place team in any conference with a 6-6 record should not be tied in, to any bowl.

As it stands right now, 6 wins basically guarantees a bowl. But that could be anywhere significantly decreasing the attractive nature of travel for fans. One way or the other, if we are picked for a bowl I highly recommend you taking in the experience. The bowl committees always roll out the red carpet for fans and the couple of days before a bowl are awesome ways to build fan loyalty with fun events around the coaches and players. I have covered dozens and dozens of bowls. While outside fans may not care as much about the games, they do still bring value to the teams and their fans. 50% of the teams go into the offseason talking about their bowl success to recruits and energizing players for Spring Drills. The other half talk about the learning experience from the bowl games and dangle another attractive game beyond the known schedule in front of potential recruits. That doesn't mean much to 5- and 4-star recruits. But it is a big deal for the 3-star kids we are primarily going to be chasing and the occassional 4-star kid who is on the fence about going to an indy whose mission they value.

As for a bowl game in Lynchburg, it is not as farfetched as some suggest. But you run the risk of pouring moeny into a game in which the return on investment is rathe rlow if the Flames aren't eligible. We'd need to have a stadium expansion to at least 25-30k to gain credentialing from the NCAA. I don't think that is going to be an issue for us for much longer.

Sly Fox wrote:As it stands right now, 6 wins basically guarantees a bowl. But that could be anywhere significantly decreasing the attractive nature of travel for fans. One way or the other, if we are picked for a bowl I highly recommend you taking in the experience. The bowl committees always roll out the red carpet for fans and the couple of days before a bowl are awesome ways to build fan loyalty with fun events around the coaches and players. I have covered dozens and dozens of bowls. While outside fans may not care as much about the games, they do still bring value to the teams and their fans. 50% of the teams go into the offseason talking about their bowl success to recruits and energizing players for Spring Drills. The other half talk about the learning experience from the bowl games and dangle another attractive game beyond the known schedule in front of potential recruits. That doesn't mean much to 5- and 4-star recruits. But it is a big deal for the 3-star kids we are primarily going to be chasing and the occassional 4-star kid who is on the fence about going to an indy whose mission they value.

As for a bowl game in Lynchburg, it is not as farfetched as some suggest. But you run the risk of pouring moeny into a game in which the return on investment is rathe rlow if the Flames aren't eligible. We'd need to have a stadium expansion to at least 25-30k to gain credentialing from the NCAA. I don't think that is going to be an issue for us for much longer.

This is LU we are talking about. Money would not be a problem. Wins however....