The costs of being in the Group of Five...

If you want to know how little value is seen in the Group of Five in college football, a story today will bring that home.

The First Responder Bowl was slated to be played today in the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, TX between #25 Boise State of the Mountain West and Boston College, who finished 4-4 in the ACC and five teams finished ahead of them (and two more 4-4's with them).

Severe weather lightning caused a delay and they didn't think they'd be able to play the game -- and, judging by the radar indicating flooding-level thunderstorms all day, they may have been correct for today.

So why not move it?

Because the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl is one of, now, FOURTEEN FBS bowl games owned and operated by ESPN.

You heard me right -- ESPN now owns 14 of the 37 FBS bowls.

About two or three of the pre-Christmas bowls are all that is left which ESPN has not taken.  And I think only about one or two non-Go5 slots are left off of that.

ESPN only O&O's one Power 5 Bowl, the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl.  And there are only maybe a handful of Go5 slots outside of ESPN O&O's.

It is really setting up for ESPN just taking the Group of 5 and making it it's own division, under what is now called "ESPN Events" -- where all the bowls and any playoff for the Go5 would be owned and operated by the Worldwide Leader in Snorts.