Editing College football (section)

====Growth of bowl games====
{{see also|Bowl game}}

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; text-align: center; width: 200px; font-size: 0.9em;"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| '''Growth of bowl<br />games 1930–2022'''<ref name=bowls1>{{cite news | last = Call | first = Jeff | title = Changing seasons: Y. reconnects with past, but bowl scene not the same | work=Deseret News | date = December 20, 2006 | page = D5}}</ref>
|-
! width=90 | Year
! # of games
|-
| 1930
| 1
|-
| 1940
| 5
|-
| 1950
| 8
|-
| 1960
| 8
|-
| 1970
| 8
|-
| 1980
| 15
|-
| 1990
| 19
|-
| 2000
| 25
|-
| 2010
| 35
|-
|2022
|42 (Plus CFP national championship game)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2022–23 Bowl Schedule |url=https://bowlseason.com/sports/bowl/schedule/2022-23 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=BOWL SEASON |language=en}}</ref>
|}
In 1940, for the highest level of college football, there were only five bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Sun, and Cotton). By 1950, three more had joined that number and in 1970, there were still only eight major college bowl games. The number grew to eleven in 1976. At the birth of cable television and cable sports networks like [[ESPN]], there were fifteen bowls in 1980. With more national venues and increased available revenue, the bowls saw an explosive growth throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the thirty years from 1950 to 1980, seven bowl games were added to the schedule. From 1980 to 2008, an additional 20 bowl games were added to the schedule.<ref name=bowls1/><ref name=hickok1>{{cite web|title=College Bowl Games |work=Hickok Sports |year=2006 |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/collbowl.shtml |access-date=June 1, 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020223060707/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/collbowl.shtml |archive-date=February 23, 2002}}</ref> Some have criticized this growth, claiming that the increased number of games has diluted the significance of playing in a bowl game. Yet others have countered that the increased number of games has increased exposure and revenue for a greater number of schools, and see it as a positive development.<ref>{{cite web|last=Celizic |first=Mike |title=Too many bowl games? Nonsense |publisher=MSNBC |date=December 9, 2006 |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15943416/ |access-date=June 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070129041736/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15943416/ |archive-date=January 29, 2007}}</ref> Teams participating in bowl games also get to practice up to four hours per day or 20 hours per week until their bowl game concludes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Temple |first=Jesse |title=What Wisconsin extending its bowl streak would mean to Badgers players |work=The New York Times |url=https://theathletic.com/3904283/2022/11/17/wisconsin-college-football-bowl-game/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |language=en}}</ref> There is no limit on the number of practices during the bowl season, so teams that play later in the season (usually ones with more wins) get more opportunity to practice than ones that play earlier. This bowl practice period can be compared to the spring practice schedule when teams can have 15 on-field practice sessions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-18 |title=Spring football practice recommendations advance |url=https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/1/18/media-center-spring-football-practice-recommendations-advance.aspx |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=NCAA.org |language=en}}</ref> Many teams that play late in the bowl season use the first few practices for evaluation and development of younger players while resting the starters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Additional practices create balancing act for bowl teams |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2016/12/21/additional-practices-create-balancing-act-for-bowl-teams/95720950/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

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