JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Greg McGarity had reason to be concerned. The Gator Bowl president kept a watchful eye on College Football Playoff scenarios all season and understood the fallout might affect his postseason matchup in Jacksonville. What if the Southeastern Conference got five teams into the expanded CFP? What if the Atlantic Coast Conference landed three spots? It was a math problem that was impossible to truly answer, even into late November. Four first-round playoff games, which will end with four good teams going home without a bowl game, had the potential to shake up the system. The good news for McGarity and other bowl organizers: Adding quality teams to power leagues — Oregon to the Big Ten, Texas to the SEC and SMU to the ACC — managed to ease much of the handwringing. McGarity and the Gator Bowl ended up with their highest-ranked team, No. 16 Ole Miss, in nearly two decades. "It really didn't lessen our pool much at all," McGarity said. "The SEC bowl pool strengthened with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. You knew they were going to push traditional SEC teams up or down. Texas ended up pushing just about everyone down." The long waiting game was the latest twist for non-CFP bowls that have become adept at dealing with change. Efforts to match the top teams came and went in the 1990s and first decade of this century before the CFP became the first actual tournament in major college football. It was a four-team invitational — until this year, when the 12-team expanded format meant that four quality teams would not be in the mix for bowl games after they lose next week in the first round. "There's been a lot of things that we've kind of had to roll with," said Scott Ramsey, president of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. "I don't think the extra games changed our selection model to much degree. We used to look at the New York's Six before this, and that was 12 teams out of the bowl mix. The 12-team playoff is pretty much the same." Ramsey ended up with No. 23 Missouri against Iowa in his Dec. 30 bowl. A lot of so-called lesser bowl games do have high-profile teams — the ReliaQuest Bowl has No. 11 Alabama vs. Michigan (a rematch of last year's CFP semifinal), Texas A&M and USC will play in the Las Vegas Bowl while No. 14 South Carolina and No. 15 Miami, two CFP bubble teams, ended up in separate bowls in Orlando. "The stress of it is just the fact that the CFP takes that opening weekend," Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti said. "It kind of condenses the calendar a little bit." Bowl season opens Saturday with the Cricket Celebration Bowl. The first round of the CFP runs Dec. 20-21. It remains to be seen whether non-CFP bowls will see an impact from the new dynamic. They will know more by 2026, with a planned bowl reset looming. It could include CFP expansion from 12 to 14 teams and significant tweaks to the bowl system. More on-campus matchups? More diversity among cities selected to host semifinal and championship games? And would there be a trickle-down effect for everyone else? Demand for non-playoff bowls remains high, according to ESPN, despite increased focus on the expanded CFP and more players choosing to skip season finales to either enter the NCAA transfer portal or begin preparations for the NFL draft. "There's a natural appetite around the holidays for football and bowl games," Kurt Dargis, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, said at Sports Business Journal's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum last week in Las Vegas. "People still want to watch bowl games, regardless of what's going on with the playoff. ... It's obviously an unknown now with the expanded playoff, but we really feel like it's going to continue." The current bowl format runs through 2025. What lies ahead is anyone's guess. Could sponsors start paying athletes to play in bowl games? Could schools include hefty name, image and likeness incentives for players participating in bowls? Would conferences be willing to dump bowl tie-ins to provide a wider range of potential matchups? Are bowls ready to lean into more edginess like Pop-Tarts has done with its edible mascot? The path forward will be determined primarily by revenue, title sponsors, TV demand and ticket sales. "The one thing I have learned is we're going to serve our partners," Saccenti said. "We're going to be a part of the system that's there, and we're going to try to remain flexible and make sure that we're adjusting to what's going on in the world of postseason college football." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Lawmakers edge closer to deal on government fundingRIYADH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 25, 2024-- Invest Saudi and The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) officially launched the 28th World Investment Conference (WIC) today in Riyadh. With an overarching theme of ‘Harnessing Digital Transformation and Sustainable Growth: Scaling Investment Opportunities’, the first day brought together more than 2,000 attendees from 130 countries, including 30 ministers, to explore key strategies for overcoming global investment challenges and unlocking opportunities for the future. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241125177448/en/ Saudi Minister of Investment, H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, addresses delegates at the 28th World Investment Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: AETOSWire) H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, Saudi Minister of Investment, opened the event with an insightful keynote address, highlighting Saudi Arabia’s transformation under Vision 2030 and its emergence as a global investment hub. He identified the critical global trends shaping investment, such as the rise of green and blue economies, the impact of new technologies, the reconfiguration of global supply chains, and demographic shifts. Showcasing Saudi Arabia’s development, H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih told the audience: “Our GDP has grown by 70% since the launch of Vision 2030 to $1.1 trillion, with half of this attributed to non-oil economic activities. Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have tripled compared to pre-Vision levels, and registered international investors are 10 times what they were.” Nivruti Rai, Managing Director and CEO of Invest India and WAIPA President, also addressed the audience, highlighting the importance of collaborative global efforts to reshape economics and drive sustainable growth. First day panels ranged from discussions on the evolving role of emerging economies to strategies for fostering global trade and investment. Topics included the increasing importance of FDI in driving economic transformation, the alignment of industrial policies with investment promotion, and transformative innovations in climate action. H.E. Faisal F. Alibrahim, Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning, joined H.E. Eng. Hassan El-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Egypt, and H.E. Samir Abdelhafidh, Minister of Economy and Planning, Tunisia, in a panel discussing how emerging economies, such as Saudi Arabia, are redefining the role of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) and creating new opportunities for FDI amidst challenges like geopolitical shifts and sustainability goals. “Saudi Arabia is today the global growth platform, actually the growth platform if you look at how the global economy is evolving. And we’ve been lucky enough to prove the power of diversification over the last few years,” H.E. Alibrahim said. The conference also featured a masterclass on ‘Investor Services 2.0’ by the World Bank, exploring AI-driven analytics and VR site visits, along with matchmaking sessions that connected investors with SMEs and government representatives. H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, Saudi Minister of Investment also brought up the topic of supply chain resilience ahead of the Global Supply Chain Resilience Event (GSCRI) being held on the sidelines WIC tomorrow. In his opening speech, he stated, “One trend is the steady reconfiguration of global supply chains, with decentralization creating hubs in emerging regions that offer new opportunities for investment in infrastructure and production capacity. We have observed that as investors look to enhance the stability and resilience of supply chains, new economic clusters are coalescing around resources, energy, and demography.” Minister Al-Falih will give the opening remarks at the GSCRI event tomorrow along with H.E. Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia. The second day will also see sessions on technology innovation, industrial transformation, and sustainable partnerships. About WIC : https://waipa.org/wic-info/ *Source: AETOSWire View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241125177448/en/ For media inquiries:WIC28media@apcoworldwide.com KEYWORD: AFRICA TUNISIA EGYPT INDIA ASIA PACIFIC SAUDI ARABIA MIDDLE EAST INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING SOFTWARE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINTECH SUSTAINABILITY TECHNOLOGY ASSET MANAGEMENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENVIRONMENT DATA ANALYTICS RETAIL FINANCE SOURCE: World Investment Conference Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 11/25/2024 05:07 PM/DISC: 11/25/2024 05:07 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241125177448/enNone"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.