Kirk Herbstreit reveals ‘concern’ he raised to ESPN bosses in assembly that ‘did not go down properly’

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has revealed he once complained to the network about the increasing number of bowl games in college football, which didn’t go down well with his bosses.

Herbstreit, who has worked for ESPN since 1990, believes the bowl market is becoming over-saturated in today’s game with more than 40 now taking place to accommodate teams who fail to make the playoffs.

Teams with 6-6 and even 5-7 records are now capable of qualifying given there are 82 slots to fill, compared to in previous years when only the top 20 programs would compete in a bowl game.

ESPN dominates the bowl season by broadcasting almost every one of them, meaning Herbstreit’s frustration with the number bowl games was not well-received.

‘I feel like I said this at a seminar one time,’ the 56-year-old said on the latest episode of his Nonstop with Kirk and Joey podcast. 

‘The back of the room – when you and I sit back there – I’ll raise my hand, pull the button down, pull the mic down, and say, “Are we creating too many bowl games?”

Kirk Herbstreit has revealed he once complained to ESPN about the number of bowl games

The college football analyst believes there are too many bowl games that mean very little, such as the Las Vegas Bowl (pictured)

‘”Bowl games are supposed to be special. They’re supposed to be a reward for a great year. Do we have to have all these 6-6 teams and like creating these bowl games just because they rate well? 

‘”I feel like we’re oversaturating the bowl season.” And that didn’t go over real well when I brought that up at the ESPN seminar.’

The top four teams play in the biggest bowl games of the season, with the winners then advancing to meet in the National Championship.

There are also dozens of other bowls which serve as mini-postseasons for teams that are not competing in the playoffs.

‘It used to be what, 15-18 bowls forever?’ Herbstreit added. ‘And you basically had to be 8-4 to even have a chance to be in. There were a lot of 8-4 teams that didn’t go to bowl games back in the olden days.

‘And now, s***, they’re looking for anybody that has a roster to go to a bowl game.’