At first I was disappointed in the Military Bowl

[pittguy81]

but after some consideration I think Barnes made a very crafty and intelligent choice.

The thing holding Pitt back from better/more prestigious bowl games isn't the quality of the team on the field, it's the support of Pitt fans in terms of travel, ticket sales and money spent in the bowl game community.

By choosing the Military Bowl, Barnes made the calculation that Pitt fans would buy tickets and attend a game that a lot of alumni/Pitt fans could easily get to to. The ticket sales to date have borne that out.

It's not a prestigious game but it is the game that provides Pitt the best team match up and a game that Pitt fans will go to and support....building for the future regarding Pitt Bowl Game invites.

 

[ricflair4LIFE]

but after some consideration I think Barnes made a very crafty and intelligent choice.

The thing holding Pitt back from better/more prestigious bowl games isn't the quality of the team on the field, it's the support of Pitt fans in terms of travel, ticket sales and money spent in the bowl game community.

By choosing the Military Bowl, Barnes made the calculation that Pitt fans would buy tickets and attend a game that a lot of alumni/Pitt fans could easily get to to. The ticket sales to date have borne that out.

It's not a prestigious game but it is the game that provides Pitt the best team match up and a game that Pitt fans will go to and support....building for the future regarding Pitt Bowl Game invites.

Did Barnes really have much of a choice in the matter? It seems like the ACC dictated where teams would go.

 

[pittguy81]

Did Barnes really have much of a choice in the matter? It seems like the ACC dictated where teams would go.

The bowl games pick their teams not the conference. The Bowls that took another team did so for monetary considerations. They exist to make money. Pitt fans don't travel and spend money in the local economy, making Pitt a last resort type choice. It is what it is.

This seems like an effort to put a building block in place to improve our lot going forward

 

[steel1975]

Barnes had no choice in the matter

But it is a good bowl for us -- Great location, ranked opponent -- national TV audience/interest -- plus it's close to Pgh and easily drive-able.

Pinstripe would have been just as good, but I think the Navy opponent is much better than the B1G team in Pinstripe