The Independence Bowl is in a lot of trouble. There’s really no way to sugarcoat it.

What was once a great tradition in northwest Louisiana featuring good games with decent teams has declined into a bowl game with mediocre teams most years.

In 2016, the Independence Bowl Committee got what it wanted all year long: ACC vs SEC. And few people wanted to see it.

The I-Bowl hosted a 6-6 Vanderbilt who was the 11th best team from the SEC this year and a 6-6 North Carolina State team from the ACC. While the announced attendance was just under 29,000, the actual attendance yesterday was much less as evidenced by pictures from the stadium.

The Independence Bowl lost $1.5 million over 2014 and 2015, and has the second-lowest reported net assets of any bowl game as of the 2013-14 filing (it’s actually much worse according to the latest filing with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor).

Yet, when the Independence Bowl featured a matchup of two 6-6 teams for the third year and didn’t draw a decent crowd, the first instinct among some members of the Shreveport media wasn’t to blame the Independence Bowl Committee. Their first instinct was to blame the local population for not spending four hours and their money to watch Vanderbilt and North Carolina State the day after Christmas.

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. In the I-Bowl case, they try to push for an “ACC vs. SEC” game with two 6-6 teams every year and expect the local community to care about it when pictures from the past few editions of the I-Bowl prove otherwise.

There are a lot of warning signs which need to be addressed by the Independence Bowl Committee or preferably by a group of more competent people who know how to manage a bowl game.

#1: The Independence Bowl focused its efforts on “ACC vs. SEC” to its own detriment.

The I-Bowl wants people to think of dream matches like Clemson vs. Alabama or Florida State vs. LSU when they promote “ACC vs. SEC” on billboards each year. In reality, the bowl will be stuck with matchups like Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina State or worse.

The worst example of this was back in 2012 when the Independence Bowl marketed its 2012 edition as “ACC vs. SEC” for months. After filling the heads of everyone in Shreveport and Bossier City with visions of LSU, Ole Miss, or even Arkansas, the Independence Bowl gave us Ohio vs. UL-Monroe. To UL-Monroe’s credit, their fanbase showed up. But, no one else did as only 19,203 people showed up based on the turnstile count that day.

Since then, the Independence Bowl gave Shreveport an “ACC vs. SEC” twice in four years – involving two 6-6 teams from the SEC East Division (South Carolina in 2014 and Vanderbilt in 2016).

Shreveport is a notorious sports “backwagon” town that only supports teams that win year after year. Lately, those teams are limited to LSU, Louisiana Tech, the New Orleans Saints (though I suspect that will wean a bit in the next few years), and the Dallas Cowboys. That’s about it.

The local population might go to an Independence Bowl which has an ACC vs. SEC matchup – if those two teams are good. Most people here – myself included – will not waste their time or money to see a couple of crappy teams right after Christmas just because they are in the ACC or the SEC.

Instead of trying to eat crumbs from the tables of the ACC and SEC, the I-Bowl should have focused on attracting the cream of the crop of the Group of 5 Conferences, especially Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference. The I-Bowl payout is very low for Power 5 Conferences, but would be great for Group of 5 Conference schools. If the I-Bowl reached a deal with the AAC, C-USA, and the Sun Belt, they could open a spot or two up each year to attract good regional teams that travel like Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, and Houston.

#2: The Independence Bowl has difficulty hanging on to a title sponsor in recent years.

AdvoCare as the sponsor of the bowl game from 2009 to 2013. However, there were signs in 2013 that AdvoCare might be ending its relationship with the Independence Bowl.

On June 21st, 2013, AdvoCare became the title sponsor of the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff in Houston, Texas.

On August 22nd, 2013, AdvoCare announced it was ending its sponsorship of the bowl game after the 2013 edition.

On February 11th, 2014, AdvoCare became the title sponsor of the AdvoCare Texas Bowl in Houston.

The Independence Bowl inked a deal to have Duck Commander be the title sponsor of the 2014 bowl game. The Robertson family who puts their name on as many products as George Lucas does with Star Wars sponsored only the 2014 I-Bowl after the relationship between Duck Commander and the bowl ended in March 2015.

Later in 2015, Camping World agreed to be the title sponsor of the Independence Bowl through the 2016 game.

The CEO of Camping World, Marcus Lemonis, said in an interview with the Shreveport Times in December 2015:

“At the end of year two, we have the ability to renew or not renew. And so I’ve been very candid with them that the experience is going to determine whether we return or not.”

While a decision to renew the contract or leave has not been made public yet, there are signs that Camping World will not be associated with the Independence Bowl much longer.

Marcus Lemonis added in his interview with the Shreveport Times:

[Marcus] expects to be more involved in the second year of the two-year agreement to see if college football sponsorship is something he wants to further invest in.

Based on what Camping World has signed deals for this year, their CEO has determined “college football sponsorship is something he wants to invest further in”…just not in Shreveport.

On April 26, 2016, Camping World purchased the naming rights to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida for the next eight years. In addition, Camping World will be title sponsor of the stadium’s college football kickoff game from 2016 through 2019.

I would bet money right now that Camping World will not be the sponsor of the Independence Bowl in 2017. They determined, just like AdvoCare did a few years back, that college football is a worthwhile way to advertise their business and that there are more lucrative places and opportunities to market themselves in college football besides the Independence Bowl as it is today.

#3: The Independence Bowl’s payout has been stagnant while its peers have passed them by.

The money throughout college football has exploded in the last 25 years. One of the indicators is in the amount of money the bowl games pay out each year.

While numerous bowls have increased their payouts dramatically since 1999, the Independence Bowl’s payout has remained stagnant during that same time period.

According to information from CollegeFootballPoll.com, the team payout by the Independence Bowl increased only from $1.1 million in 1999 to a projected $1.2 million in 2016.

By comparison, here is a list of some of the payouts of other comparable bowl games which were in the same payout range as the Independence Bowl:

Not only has the Independence Bowl fallen behind its peers from 1999 in terms of payout, the Independence Bowl has also been leapfrogged by bowls that were either on a lower tier than the Independence Bowl or did not exist back in 1999.

#4: The Independence Bowl has moved down the pecking order as more bowl games have been added.

The Independence Bowl had its best matchups and biggest crowds during the 1990s. At least five of the games in that decade featured one Top 25 team. The 1993 game featured #21 Indiana vs. #22 Virginia Tech. The 1997 game featured #15 LSU vs. Notre Dame.

However, the Independence Bowl has fallen down the pecking order since 1999. In 1999, the Independence Bowl would get the 6th team from the SEC and the 5th/6th team from the Big XII. This year, the Independence Bowl got the 11th team from a 14-team SEC and one team in the 9th-11th range from a 14-team ACC. The I-Bowl has been leapfrogged in the SEC pecking order by the Gator/TaxSlayer Bowl, Texas Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Belk Bowl, and Birmingham Bowl in the last 17 years.

Moving down the pecking order was resulted in the Independence Bowl getting the last pick from the SEC (like Vanderbilt this year and South Carolina in 2014) or an at-large team if an SEC team wasn’t available (like Tulsa in 2015 or Arizona State in 2013). It’s also resulted in the game getting 6-6 teams from the ACC the last three years like Miami, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.

#5: The new hotel/motel occupancy tax in Caddo and Bossier Parish will not help the bowl game as advertised.

The hotel/motel occupancy tax which was enacted in early December 2015 was pushed as a way for the Independence Bowl to increase its payout and move up the SEC pecking ladder.

Kyle McInnis, Independence Bowl Chairman in 2015, said in a Shreveport Times article:

“I hear all the time, ‘Why can’t you get LSU? Why can’t you get all the SEC teams we used to enjoy in the 90s and early 2000s?’” McInnis said. “It’s real easy — we just need to give them more money.” The bowl has gone from a prominent pick among SEC teams to a more secondary choice, and much of that has to do with the limited attraction to the area. This money, according to McInnis, would go a long way in improving that standing. “We need to move up in the pecking order,” McInnis said. “That’s what our community wants and that’s what the people of Northwest Louisiana have told us repeatedly.”

However, after examining the amount of money the bowl will receive from the newly-enacted hotel/motel occupancy tax, the bowl game will not be able to move up the SEC pecking order much, if at all.

According to the Fiscal Note from House Bill 216 – the bill authorizing the 1.5% hotel/motel occupancy tax in Caddo and Bossier Parishes – about $1.72 million would be raised each year for the Independence Bowl Foundation, the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission, and the Ark-La-Tex Regional Air Service Alliance. The Independence Bowl would get around $575,000 a year for the new tax enacted in 2016.

If every penny of the additional money the bowl game will receive from the tax was allocated to the payout for each team (which probably won’t happen), it would bump up the payout only to around $1.5 million a team. This would put the Independence Bowl on par with the Liberty Bowl if the Liberty Bowl doesn’t increase its payout at all, as shown on the SEC bowl payout chart below (info from CollegeFootballPoll.com):

In addition, the SEC pecking order, in which the Independence Bowl receives the 9th SEC team after the “New Year’s Six” bowls make their selections, is set in stone through 2019. The Independence Bowl can’t move up the pecking order until 2020 at the earliest, and the small amount of money from the tax likely won’t be enough to move the bowl game up the pecking order.

I don’t want the Independence Bowl to die. It can be an annual tradition which provides a great matchup between two decent college football teams and a way to showcase everything Shreveport and Bossier City has to offer. The I-Bowl could become a really good bowl game for the Group of 5 schools if it is run properly.

As wrestling announcer Jim Ross once said, “An empty seat speaks volumes as relates to market research. The empty seat has a voice – by not being filled, it tells you that what you’re doing isn’t accepted.” All the empty seats at the Independence Bowl the last few years shows that the public is not accepting what the Independence Bowl officials are selling.

If the I-Bowl continues to be run as is with a focus on getting an ACC and SEC team no matter how average they are, then the bowl game will continue its decline into irrelevance in the world of college football and northwest Louisiana.