Wyoming may be going to a less than ideal destination for their bowl game, but as fans and supporters of the University of Wyoming we need to realize that this bowl game is an opportunity to display our team, our school, and our state on a national level, which can provide huge benefits to the athletics program, school and the state as a whole.
No matter what bowl game you are in, whether it is the Potato Bowl or the Rose bowl, the game will be televised nationally. During this time, possibly only one other bowl game will be going on. This means that Wyoming Cowboys will be viewed by the entire nation at one time.
During this time UW will be able to display advertisements that will be broadcasted nationwide. In the past few years these advertisements and commercials have done a good job of highlighting the state, the programs the schools offer, the city of Laramie and UW athletics. Any future students who are starting to look for a university to attend are now given a firsthand look at what UW has to offer.
For any future recruits to the football program, they not only get to watch Wyoming and learn about our proud tradition, but they now have seen what the school has to offer. Not every school gets this opportunity for exposure. Roughly half of the nation’s schools in the FBS division of football get an opportunity to play in a bowl.
With this opportunity, Wyoming is going to back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the late ‘80s, and have a chance to reach eight wins. These two factors are important to building a power house program.
If you look at the teams that are consistently at the top of the Mountain West conference, Boise State and San Diego State and in the top of the nation, Alabama and Clemson, they are always in bowl games.
With this exposure and opportunity, they can pretty much guarantee to their recruits a chance to play in a bowl game and be in the national spotlight. If Wyoming can go to bowl games year after year then our school will become more appealing to recruits. If Wyoming can win the bowl game then they will reach eight wins for the second year in a row. This is another sign of Wyoming becoming a power house team because we can prove that Wyoming wins and we win regularly.
Last is the money involved with bowl appearances. According to a Forbes Magazine article from 2014 most bowl games participants can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars up to millions of dollars for the schools.
This money is given to the schools participating in the bowl games. With the university in the midst of budget cuts a large sum of money would be helpful.
The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl may not be the most luxurious bowl in the most luxurious location, but it provides great opportunities to everyone associated with Wyoming and provides a key stepping stone for the football program in moving forward.
