It has been an eventful two weeks in college sports, hasn't it? The Big 12 is losing its tentpole members as realignment talks take over the landscape just weeks before the season kicks off. Now the most influential internet media company on the planet gets to broadcast a college football bowl.
To be honest with our readers I did not know the Arizona Bowl even existed. Apparently it was brought back from the dead in 2015 and ratings have been so bad that CBS did not even want the rights to the game anymore. Now with the prospects of Big Cat signing the National Anthem and jumping out of a plane with the American Flag, we are getting a very unique college football viewing experience. https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/1420079069866119177
If you have ever consumed Barstool's content you would know that they do not do things the traditional way. They are "by the common man for the common man" bringing an authentic experience to talking about sports and gambling as evidenced from popular podcasts Pardon My Take, as well as the Barstool Pick Em which is hosted by Big Cat, Dave Portnoy, and Rico Bosco. Both men have a love for college football, especially the MAC, which will make up 1/2 of the game as they will be taking on a team from the Mountain West.
Why is this partnership so important and newsworthy? For one, it will attract way more people, specifically younger people, to a bowl game that otherwise no one would have cared about (please refer to my comment about not knowing this bowl game existed). Secondly, it could act as the first version of the XFL did for the NFL. That is, we could get new broadcast ideas that are not on a traditional broadcast. Remember, the overhead camera above the field that the NFL uses was invented in the XFL. In his press conference, Dave mentioned that they have no intention of just trying to make money, but by providing an experience for the whole week that will make people want to tune in.
Assuming that Dave and Big Cat will be on the call, it will surely be fun and uniquely them, a very entertaining prospect. There is not a game that I can remember that wasn't broadcasted by professionals, but by fans who just love the game. It should be a very entertaining experience. If they succeed, which Barstool has proven time and time again that they will, we could be seeing much more from Barstool on a national scale, streaming on their sites, and sponsoring bigger bowl games. We could even have a Barstool TV network one day for football games.
Kicking off on New Year's Eve, I can confidently say that I am just as excited for the Barstool Arizona Bowl as I am for the Rose Bowl.