For some time we have been beaten over the head with the message that bowl games make tons of money for their schools and help fund other sports. That is one of the reason given for having so many. The more schools you include the more schools that make money.
Oops.
Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist said it is very typical for the lower-tier bowl games in college football to lose money.
"The payouts are low and its shared within the conference," he noted. "They can give all the hype to it that they want, but it's not a profit-making opportunity. It's mostly a big Christmas party."
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/200...re_than_1.html
Now it seems all we have left for reasoning for these pointless games is the 3rd grade mentality of letting as many people participate and win as possible.
If this is about money, have a play-off. The check teams like Rutgers will get, even if they aren't involved in the play-off will be a heck of a lot bigger than the check from the Papa Johns Bowl.