Interesting, one could say the two best teams got the crappiest matchups and had the fewest viewers.

That was my thought too. Hey...we won the "Cure Bowl" !

Probably because the Detroit bowl is the one that the MAC can put the most butts in the seats if they have Toledo, BG or one of the Michigans. According to the Sports Business Journal, most MAC bowls have drawn less than 20,000 the past three seasons. The two exceptions are the Detroit bowl, which had 22,000-28,000 with BG twice and Toledo, and the Arizona Bowl, which drew 27,000-40,000, With Ohio, Toledo and MOFO. But most of the Arizona crowd was probably from the MWC team (Wyoming twice nd Colo St.).

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/01/09...

Was frustrating that the Cure Bowl was given a Friday timeslot before Christmas when most everyone was still working. Last year it was on a Saturday afternoon and on ABC IIRC.

Really wish the Cats would have been given the Detroit bowl as that's one I could realistically get to both on distance and timing as a day trip.

That is the bummer with a lot of the early bowls. I'd love a trip to Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Alabama, etc but you don't really know in enough time to plan something like that so close to Christmas.