Could college football bowl games, the icon of the sport’s postseason and a staple of the December athletics calendar, be moved to the start of the season? On its face, the notion is radical, even absurd. But it shouldn’t be dissmessed out of hand as it’s a possibility with growing support.
The idea of playing bowl games in August, is one that dates back several years. ESPN put out an article in 2022 exploring the idea and featured quotes from key personnel in the collegiate sports landscape. A year later, the now-ended popular show, Pardon the Interruption, saw its hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the very same idea.
As recently as this past August, former NFL QB Christian Ponder threw out the idea on X, formerly Twitter.
I need someone to run this up the flagpole at the @NCAA: bowl games should be played at the beginning of the year. Your record this year earns you the bowl game to kickoff next season. Star players play & the game matters. Playoffs only to end the season.
— Christian Ponder (@cponder7) August 31, 2025
“I need someone to run this up the flagpole at the @NCAA,” Ponder said in his post. “Bowl games should be played at the beginning of the year. Your record this year earns you the bowl game to kickoff next season. Star players play & the game matters. Playoffs only to end the season.”
The idea is small enough that most of these people, writers and outlets are probably coming up with it independent of each other. But no matter who came up with it first or whomever ends up being the one to truly popularize the concept, it’s something that bowl organizers are considering taking seriously.
According to Danielle Brazil, the executive director of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, moving bowl games to the start of the year is not that absurd of an idea and that it has some traction.
“There’s quite a few bowl directors in the country that love that idea,” Brazil said. “And I definitely think it has merits. I think you’ve seen the success of the preseason games, whether it’s in Vegas, or Houston, or Dallas, or Atlanta. I mean, we’ve had them all over and they’ve had a lot of success. So I don’t think that’s a radical idea.”
Arguments can be made that moving bowl games to the start of the year can help with teams having to balance a hectic December calendar that features the early signing day, players entering the transfer portal and coaches moving between programs. Playing bowl games in August would essentially shift these neutral-site games into the sphere of being season kick-off events where months of hype can help sell the game and give an early showcase to fans.
That doesn’t mean anyone is rushing to make that change. Brazil herself qualified the earlier quote with a defense of the merits of playing bowl games in the postseason.
“There’s something about at the end of the season, a winning team that’s not a playoff-caliber group having kind of that last moment,” Brazil said.
And that is where the sticking point lies with a potential move. Bowl games have always been about rewarding the team in that same season. Give the players and coaches one last ride, one last moment, one last game together.
Largely for that reason Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall is categorically opposed to the notion of moving bowl games to the start of the year.
“I think the idea is nonsense,” Mendenhall said. “You qualify for a game based on how you play.”
As for dealing with the calendar conflicts, Mendenhall had a simple response which is in line with his previous suggestions for fixing the college football calendar.
“All we have to do is move the season forward, then the bowl games will be earlier.”
