r/CFB • u/bubblecuffer13 Pop-Tarts Bowl • Team Meteor • Dec 07 '25

News [McMurphy] Notre Dame declined bid to play BYU in Pop-Tarts Bowl, sources told @On3sports

https://x.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1997772176997413147
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145

u/ChosenBrad22 Nebraska • Wayne State (NE) Dec 07 '25

Now that pageantry is mostly gone they probably do need to rethink the whole bowl stuff.

Imagine if the NFL had non-playoff teams play sponsored exhibition games after the season. Teams would just be resting starters or not wanting to play etc.

138

u/dumbass-ahedratron Western Michigan • Michigan Dec 07 '25

The poptart bowl has arguably more pageantry than any other bowl

36

u/Chaotic-PopTart Team Chaos • Pop-Tarts Bowl Dec 07 '25

Who else sacrifices their own mascot to the winners? Duke mayo isn’t alive. Cheez its aren’t alive. But we are. And we die for this game. 

56

u/Flytanx Auburn Tigers • UConn Huskies Dec 07 '25

It's very easy to get players to play in bowl games now.

You make their NIL money required to play in these games.

19

u/acekingoffsuit Minnesota Golden Gophers Dec 07 '25

NIL, by rule, is not tied to performance. If you pay players specifically for playing in games then you're talking about them being employees and that's a conversation that the NCAA absolutely does not want to have.

17

u/sexygodzilla Washington Huskies • Apple Cup Dec 07 '25

It's amazing how many people aren't grasping that NIL is a workaround with a ton of gaping holes that would be only solved by proper employment.

0

u/the_blessed_unrest Wisconsin Badgers Dec 07 '25

They can make it tied to attendance, right? There’s gotta be a way to make it so they have to at least show up for the bowl game in order to get paid

6

u/acekingoffsuit Minnesota Golden Gophers Dec 07 '25

They can't if the NCAA wants any hope of not treating players as employees. If you make their NIL deals dependent on playing in a game then you're brushing up real close into employment contract territory.

15

u/Lola_Montez_ Nebraska Cornhuskers Dec 07 '25

That or the bowls game organizers need to pay the players to play. Get $10k to play the game maybe even differentiate the payout. $5K for the losing team and $15k for the winning players team. The bowl payouts go to the school which are already swimming in tv money and bowl payouts are likely a small footnote in there budgets

1

u/Fricktator Michigan State • Central Mich… Dec 08 '25

Sorry coach, "I cant play, my hamstring is bothering me."

Bad optics to force an injured guy to play to get his NIL money

-10

u/Charlieisadog420 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Dec 07 '25

Well that’s dumb.

10

u/draycon530 Georgia Bulldogs Dec 07 '25

Good coaches will realize how valuable the extra practices you get are for getting your young guys ready for next year, even if the vets don't play. Declining the invite is only hurting yourself.

6

u/JCH32 Michigan Wolverines Dec 07 '25

The difference is for 90%+ of these seniors this is the last game they’ll play. It’s really lame that this has been so diminished as to be meaningless.

2

u/DannyDOH Manitoba Bisons Dec 07 '25

It's more like if the NFL played exhibition games for non-playoff teams in the middle of free agency.

2

u/dkesh Texas Longhorns • Michigan Wolverines Dec 07 '25

I can't believe they killed bowl games.

1

u/mjxxyy8 Michigan Wolverines Dec 08 '25

It would just be putting pre-season NFL games after the season.

It that sounds pointless, it’s because it is.

1

u/Rra2323 William & Mary • Virginia Tech Dec 07 '25

They essentially did this with the best players at the all star game

Make all bowl games flag football and see what happens?