[pincemob]

I agree with those who say the Peach Bowl makes little sense.  I cannot remember a single Peach Bowl game in the past 20 years and I am not sure it ever decided the national title (at least since 1980 where my memory stretches).  Atlanta's population is smaller than it was in 1980 (500,000) and the bowl itself has always been mediocre.  There must have been some back room dealing with the SEC to given them more of a home field advantage.  You don't need more sites than teams and geographically the playoff is already skewed to the south east. 

The Fiesta Bowl probably skyrocketed because of the growth of Phoenix (now the U.S. 6th largest city) and the games it has been been able to stage.  They had multiple title-deciding games pre-BCS (Penn State - Miami and ND-WV in the 80s) and it has continued to put together the best games consistently (Boise - OU, Stanford - OSU).    I can name 10 memorable Fiesta Bowl games without much thought.  I think they could have stopped at 5 sites.  The Cotton Bowl is ok with me. 

[pincemob]

I agree with those who say the Peach Bowl makes little sense.  I cannot remember a single Peach Bowl game in the past 20 years and I am not sure it ever decided the national title (at least since 1980 where my memory stretches).  Atlanta's population is smaller than it was in 1980 (500,000) and the bowl itself has always been mediocre.  There must have been some back room dealing with the SEC to given them more of a home field advantage.  You don't need more sites than teams and geographically the playoff is already skewed to the south east. 

The Fiesta Bowl probably skyrocketed because of the growth of Phoenix (now the U.S. 6th largest city) and the games it has been been able to stage.  They had multiple title-deciding games pre-BCS (Penn State - Miami and ND-WV in the 80s) and it has continued to put together the best games consistently (Boise - OU, Stanford - OSU).    I can name 10 memorable Fiesta Bowl games without much thought.  I think they could have stopped at 5 sites.  The Cotton Bowl is ok with me.