After a nearly three-year run, Detroit concluded its bowl game on Wednesday, leaving the MAC Championship Game as Motown’s only postseason game. While the move shocked many in the football world, the signs may have been there for some time.
A few weeks ago, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan announced their next two meetings would be held at Ford Field. It seemed like an isolated incident at the time, but it could have marked the beginning of the end for the GameAboveSports Bowl and hinted at a new tournament strategy for the bowl’s organizers, the Detroit Lions.
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The selection of the Final Four teams during the 2025-2026 bowl season shows the dark reality of the College Football Playoff: For several Final Four teams, it’s College Football Playoff or bust — especially those going through coaching changes.
The GameAboveSports Bowl is likely aware of this fact, as it has a hard time finding a team from the Big Ten or ACC that wants to play this season.
That’s why the potential to create a “bowl game” during the regular season could be the solution. Given the Lions’ relationship with the MAC in recent years and the relative viability of several member institutions, the Lions organization could focus on paying nearby MAC schools to move their big home games to Ford Field instead of hosting games during the holiday season. This solution eliminates the stress of opting out and finding a qualified team willing to travel.
Both nearby Toledo and Bowling Green schools will host some notable programs in the coming years. The Rockets will face Kentucky in 2027, Syracuse in 2028 and Washington State in 2031. The Falcons will face Iowa State in 2027. Regular season “bowl games” are attractive to Kentucky, Syracuse and Iowa State.
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None of the three had played in a Detroit Bowl game and were nowhere near the Motor City. Syracuse is 6.5 or 7.5 hours from Canada, the Kentucky campus is 5.5 hours away, and Iowa is 9 hours from Detroit. Considering Iowa State is known for its bowl games, they probably make the most sense.
There is evidence that this idea may have merit. After the concept of “neutral site” games, a feature of the early 2010s, stabilized post-COVID, the strategy has begun to be used again at the Power conference level. Reports emerged Thursday that SMU will play a series of games against Power Conference opponents at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in 2027 and 2029, a move believed to be an effort to keep those games on track.
A move to Ford Field may be Toledo’s only way to retain its 2027 home game against Kentucky. In 2024, Kentucky canceled an unprecedented road game in Akron with 10 months’ notice. Wildcats cancel remaining 2-1 game against Akron in 2023 as they prefer to pay $1.2 million Better to pay a cancellation fee than risk your reputation against the lowly Akron Zips.
Kentucky must cancel one of four non-conference games against Toledo, Kent State, Eastern Illinois and Louisville after the SEC moved to a nine-game conference schedule. The Toledo game appears to be the most likely since the Wildcats host Kent State. Ford Field could be a bargaining chip for the Rockets to stay in the game. In 2023, Missouri pushed hard to move Memphis from Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium to the Globe Dome in St. Louis.
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Still, this strategy has its drawbacks.
The Detroit Lions and Ford Field tried this strategy in the late 2000s. Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan both host Big Ten teams in front of sparse crowds at Ford Field. In 2007, 10,000 fans attended Eastern Michigan’s game against Northwestern. The next year, a 7-2 Western Michigan team faced off against the previous year’s Big Ten Rose Bowl team, Illinois, and drew only 12,615 fans.
The regular season bowl model will likely see similar results. The 12-team College Football Playoff pushes fan travel to new limits. Playoff-hungry fans of Iowa State, Kentucky, Syracuse and Washington State may miss this seemingly inconsequential non-conference game.
Additionally, it’s difficult to see the Lions and Ford Field getting a return on investment from these games. The Glass Bowl seats 26,038, a total Toledo has surpassed only twice in five appearances at Ford Field since 2010. Likewise, Bowling Green’s Doitt Perry Stadium seats 24,000, and the Falcons have surpassed that total only once in their five appearances at Ford Field since 2003.
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For the school and the Detroit Lions, that juice may not be worth the squeeze. Why would Toledo or Bowling Green trade a raucous campus atmosphere for a boring NFL environment just to sell a few thousand more tickets?
Many people will miss the GameAbove Sports Bowl. While there is a realistic path to an alternate version of the game, the solution offers little to no benefit. Bowl deciding that taking the admirable route and exiting on your own terms might be the best option.
