Do we stop with the "Mike Slive hates Tennessee" stuff now?

[Creek Walker]

I dislike Slive as much as anyone, but let's be honest: The SEC did UT a huge favor with the Gator Bowl placement. No doubt there will be years when the SEC's involvement in where teams are placed in the bowls will not work out in our favor and we'll all be pissed and brushing off the conspiracy theories, but this year, at least, it worked out very well. I don't think anyone who mattered predicted this team would be in a destination bowl before the season began...and certainly no one was predicting it last week. We got a better bowl than LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M (as well as Florida and South Carolina, but there was no common logic that would've suggested they should've been ahead of us in bowl priority).

[BanditVol]

Is it a better bowl than music city?

Certainly it's better than the others mentioned with the possible exception of belk which is new.

Plus it's after NY day and thus less prestigious. Better than I expected though for sure.

[Creek Walker]

Is it a better bowl than music city?

Certainly it's better than the others mentioned with the possible exception of belk which is new.

Plus it's after NY day and thus less prestigious. Better than I expected though for sure.

Certainly it is. Gator Bowl has always gotten priority over Music City. The payout is $3.5m vs. roughly $1.7m. The "after NYD" part is only because of these new TV contracts (thanks, ESPN) where the bowls can't conflict with one another time wise. In the old days, the Gator Bowl would've been a NYD bowl.

[PirateVOL]

Certainly it is. Gator Bowl has always gotten priority over Music City. The payout is $3.5m vs. roughly $1.7m. The "after NYD" part is only because of these new TV contracts (thanks, ESPN) where the bowls can't conflict with one another time wise. In the old days, the Gator Bowl would've been a NYD bowl.

Yep, it was the 1:00 NYD game, against the Citrus.  Outback was a morning KO originally but was moved to 1ish recently.

[LouisVOL]

That has been replaced with "Mike Slive hates Georgia".

[HerbTarlekVol]

Is it a better bowl than music city?

Certainly it's better than the others mentioned with the possible exception of belk which is new.

Plus it's after NY day and thus less prestigious. Better than I expected though for sure.

Is the Gator Bowl (or IRSTaxDaySlayerThingyBowl) or whatever it is called now better than the Music City?

Not just yes, but hell yes.  Nashville, Tennessee or Jacksonville, FL over the New Years holiday.  That's just a no brainer.  And with New Year's Day coming on Thursday this year, any of the "long weekend" bowls are equally prestigious, outside of the old "major" bowls that the BCS were tied in to.  It's not all about the January 1 bowls in this day and time like it used to be when we were young.  We are in a much different day.  

And I never ever bought the "Slive hates UT" line.  What would he have to gain by that?  A strong UT is good for the SEC and the more the SEC prospers the more job security he has.  

[Black Diamond Vol]

A few points:

-I don't think that Slive hates UT (although he certainly did when Kiffin was our coach).  I do think, however, that he has his favorites- namely, UF and bammer.

-If you haven't heard about the new SEC bowl pecking order, it goes like this, from the top down:
1. Playoff bowls
2. The three playoff bowls left out of the rotation (this year, the Orange, Cotton, and Peach- yes, the Peach is now considered a "major" bowl)
3. The Citrus gets first pick of all the SEC teams left
4. The league office then works with the schools and a pod of 6 bowls to produce the best matches possible.  These bowls are: Liberty, Texas, Belk, Outback, Taxslayer, and Music City.  In the eyes of the league, all these bowls are equal.
5. The Birmingham Bowl then gets first pick of any SEC teams left.
6. And finally, the Independence Bowl gets the final pick.
7. If there any unclaimed SEC teams still bowl eligible at this point (and there are not this year), the league works with other bowls associated with conferences who couldn't fill all their tie-ins.

-Bowl payouts really mean nothing to the participating schools, as all revenues are pooled by the league and split equally 14 ways.

-I understand that we ended up in Jacksonville as part of a chain of events orchestrated by the league to keep aTm from playing Texas at all costs.  Not sure why they'd want to avoid that game, but oh well- it worked out nicely for us.

[BanditVol]

Is the Gator Bowl (or IRSTaxDaySlayerThingyBowl) or whatever it is called now better than the Music City?

Not just yes, but hell yes.  Nashville, Tennessee or Jacksonville, FL over the New Years holiday.  That's just a no brainer.  And with New Year's Day coming on Thursday this year, any of the "long weekend" bowls are equally prestigious, outside of the old "major" bowls that the BCS were tied in to.  It's not all about the January 1 bowls in this day and time like it used to be when we were young.  We are in a much different day.  

And I never ever bought the "Slive hates UT" line.  What would he have to gain by that?  A strong UT is good for the SEC and the more the SEC prospers the more job security he has.  

Understood but personally I don't think Jacksonville is that great.  It's basically a huge suburb.  Other than the beach, which let's face it ain't that great this time of year, there is actually a lot more to do in Nashville IMO.  But then I don't go to Nashville that often, maybe once a year, and you might go there more than that and be bored by it.  Of all the destinations in Florida, IMO Jacksonville is about the least attractive.  There just isn't much there.  Reminds me of Memphis without the really bad crime but even Memphis has Graceland, Sun Records and Beale Street.   

[Inspector Vol]

Slive just loves money. UT has not been in position to help the conference or him by extension make any money.

Do I think he would help protect the cash when it comes to a game involving a team that does not need to lose to get into a big money game.......yes.

[HerbTarlekVol]

Understood but personally I don't think Jacksonville is that great.  It's basically a huge suburb.  Other than the beach, which let's face it ain't that great this time of year, there is actually a lot more to do in Nashville IMO.  But then I don't go to Nashville that often, maybe once a year, and you might go there more than that and be bored by it.  Of all the destinations in Florida, IMO Jacksonville is about the least attractive.  There just isn't much there.  Reminds me of Memphis without the really bad crime but even Memphis has Graceland, Sun Records and Beale Street.   

You said it yourself - "other than the beach", and that's it.  Every college football player, or hell fire every college student for that matter, wants to go to a Florida beach for spring break.  Going for a bowl game is a huge bonus for them. 

And for old farts like me who love knocking the little white ball around, no other bowl venue offers a better opportunity than you have a TPC Sawgrass. 

I love Nashville - great city, awesome music venues - but not for a bowl game.  I'll take ANY of the Florida bowl games every day and twice on Sunday over Nashville. 

[Clockwork Orange]

-Bowl payouts really mean nothing to the participating schools, as all revenues are pooled by the league and split equally 14 ways.

My understanding is that the participating school gets 2 shares rather than 1 for their bowl. So for UT the difference between a $1.8M bowl and a $3.5M bowl is about $225k. It's still small relative to the AD budget, but there is a difference.

[Clockwork Orange]

Actually the payout method has changed. If we had fallen to an (a) bowl, we'd have lost out on $200k in revenue. But there'd have been no difference for Music City or Belk.

Here it is, as of 2013-14 (I left out the big bowls in my notes since the distribution scheme is different now with the playoff).

31.21.1 Distribution of Bowl Game Receipts. Distribution of revenue (after allowable deductions) generated from member
institutions participating in bowl games shall be reviewed on an annual basis and determined as follows: [Revised 6/1/95;
Revised 6/2/06; effective 8/1/2006; Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

(a) For bowl games providing receipts which result in a balance of less than $1,500,000 (CO: Independence, Liberty, Birmingham), the participating institution
shall retain $975,000, plus a travel allowance as determined by the SEC Executive Committee. The remainder shall
be remitted to the Commissioner and shall be divided into 15 equal shares with one share to the Conference and one
share to each member institution. [Revised 6/1/02; Revised 6/2/06; effective 8/1/2006; Revised 5/29/09; effective
8/1/2009; Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

(b) For bowl games providing receipts which result in a balance between $1,500,000 and $3,999,999 (CO: Texas, Music city, Belk, Outback, Taxslayer), the participating
institution shall retain $1,175,000, plus a travel allowance as determined by the SEC Executive Committee The
remainder shall be remitted to the Commissioner and shall be divided into 15 equal shares, with one share to the
Conference and one share to each member institution. [Revised 6/1/02; Revised 6/2/06; effective 8/1/2006; Revised
5/29/09; effective 8/1/2009; Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

(c) For bowl games providing receipts which result in a balance between $4,000,000 and $5,999,999 (CO: Citrus), the participating
institution shall retain $1,375,000, plus a travel allowance as determined by the SEC Executive Committee. The
remainder shall be remitted to the Commissioner and shall be divided into 15 equal shares, with one share to the
Conference and one share to each member institution. [Revised 6/1/02; Revised 6/2/06; effective 8/1/2006; Revised
5/29/09; effective 8/1/2009; Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

(d) For bowl games providing receipts which result in a balance of $6,000,000 or more, the participating institution
shall receive $1,875,000 ($1,975,000 if the SEC team is a participant in the Bowl Championship Series game which
determines the National Championship), plus a travel allowance as determined by the SEC Executive Committee.
The remainder shall be remitted to the Commissioner and shall be divided into 15 equal shares, with one share to the
Conference and one share to each member institution. [Revised 6/1/02; Revised 6/2/06; effective 8/1/2006; Revised
5/29/09; effective 8/1/2009; Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

(e) Bowl Revenue Protection Insurance and the cost of unused tickets up to the contractually guaranteed ticket purchase
number shall be deducted prior to Conference distribution. [Adopted 6/1/02; Revised and Effective 6/4/2010;
Revised 5/31/2013; effective 8/1/2013]

[Volznut]

Picture of Mike Slive when he heard UT to the Gator

[BanditVol]

Actually the payout method has changed. If we had fallen to an (a) bowl, we'd have lost out on $200k in revenue. But there'd have been no difference for Music City or Belk.

Here it is, as of 2013-14 (I left out the big bowls in my notes since the distribution scheme is different now with the playoff).

These days we need every penny we can get.