And where have you seen where bowls had to deliver refunds?
This article is about Pro Football, but the same thing no doubt applies to bowls:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-nfl-viewership... ...When TV networks sell commercials, they guarantee advertisers a certain number of viewers. If they don't fulfill their promise, they must offer free commercial time elsewhere to make up for it, potentially missing out on revenue from selling those ad spots instead.
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So, "refund" was probably a poor word choice, since they don't actually give the cash back. Instead they give additional advertising so that the advertiser gets the exposure he was promised. In real life, that's about the same thing. If ESPN is giving away free ads that they could have sold, it's costing them real money.
Even at the local level, if a media company fails to deliver the market they promised, it is typical to "comp" the advertiser. Media companies are not looking for a one-time sale to an advertiser; they want happy advertisers who continue to buy, so they treat them fairly, and that means comping them when necessary.