Dec. 16, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Why is a big Vanderbilt fan turnout in Memphis important?
Consider these facts. Next year as everyone knows, the Southeastern Conference is adding Missouri and Texas A&M as members. Both schools field football teams that traditionally are bowl-eligible. This year despite a shaky record and a change of head coaches, the Aggies are expecting to take 30,000 fans to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Missouri is a fixture in the bowl mix and carried 18,000 fans to the Cotton Bowl a few years ago. The big state schools often carry huge contingents to their bowl games.
So what, you ask? Here is why a big turnout in Memphis matters:
The SEC is not likely to add any more bowl alliances so next year the chances are very good that this conference will have more bowl-eligible teams than there will be bowls for them to attend. We know that ticket sales are extremely important to the bowl pickers and we need to put away their concern that Vanderbilt fans will not attend a game with the same gusto as other options. We don’t want to be on the defensive next fall trying to assure bowl committees that our fans will come up strong.
It is therefore entirely possible that next year our league will have some members eligible for a bowl that will not get selected. We don’t want that to be us!
If you are one of those saying you want us to do everything we possibly can to keep our football momentum, you need to be in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl New Year’s Eve. Yes, we have surpassed our original allotment but the bigger our turnout, the bigger the impression we make.
And next year, keep your calendar open over the holidays so you can join us again!
