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Newport Beach, Calif. (January 10, 2024) – With the bowl season now complete, it’s time to stop celebrating mediocrity and .500 teams winning games against other 6-6 teams. It’s time for the Irrelevant Bowl.
Newport Beach’s Roy Englebrecht, an innovator and Hall of Fame promoter, has come up with a concept that college football coaches, players, media and fans are sure to latch on to, just like they’ve done with the title of “Mr. Irrelevant – awarded at the end of the NFL Draft and celebrating the last player selected.
“No polls, no rankings, no controversy, just two winless or near winless teams looking for redemption and one elusive win,” said Englebrecht, who hopes to launch the inaugural Irrelevant Bowl in 2024. “Knowing that the NCAA has become more flexible with the number of team’s wins to qualify for a bowl, I will petition the NCAA asking them to grant a waiver in 2024 so that two teams would be eligible to play in the inaugural Irrelevant Bowl.”
It all started four decades earlier with the naming of the first “Mr. Irrelevant” – a title no college football player wanted. Dayton wide receiver Kelvin Kirk was the 487th pick in the 1976 NFL Draft and dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant” after being selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yet what former NFL receiver Paul Salata began all those years ago has become a phenomenon for players who may have started at the bottom, but who were celebrated for making it to the big show.
If there had been an Irrelevant Bowl played this past December, it would have “featured” 2-10 Vanderbilt facing 1-11 Akron. The Irrelevant Bowl will provide six figure payouts to two teams, along with team travel, team loading lodging, and team meals in a host city to be determined. And should either of the last two teams picked pass on playing, the next lowest team would be invited.
To be considered as a host city for this monumental event, a city would place a bid in the first quarter of 2024 covering lodging and meals for the two teams, all stadium expenses, and a $1,000,000 site fee. The host city would retain all event revenue including ticket sales, concessions sales, and parking revenue.
The Irrelevant Bowl management team would have a President, VP of Operations and VP of Media, while the host city could tie in with a local college with a Sports Management Program to allow students to fill other Irrelevant Bowl positions and get real world experience in the realm of major college sports.
But ultimately, the Irrelevant Bowl is all about the teams and the players aiming for that one shot at glory that eluded their grasp during the regular season. With the world watching, winning team players could join such players as Marty Moore, Mike Green, Jim Finn, David Vobora, Ryan Succop, Chad Kelly, and Brock Purdy, who parlayed their “Mr. Irrelevant” status into NFL success. And if the NFL isn’t in the cards, having that one night of glory is a priceless memory for those who will raise their unique Irrelevant Bowl trophy at the end of the game.
According to 247Sports, at least 378 players had opted out from the 82 teams participating in bowl games since mid-December. “It’s not likely there would be any players who would decide to opt-out of the Irrelevant Bowl,” Englebrecht said.
He added: “I am sure a whole lot of college football fans laugh at some of the current 40 post season college bowl games that are of very little interest with games that feature a 6-6 team vs a 6-6 team. At least with the Irrelevant Bowl the players have something to play for, and fans have a reason to tune in to watch two teams really fight to capture that treasured win … now that is drama.”
Also added to this new 2024 concept will be the release of the Irrelevant Bowl Standings undated each week with the Top Ten 2024 Irrelevant Bowl candidates.
Irrelevant Bowl founder Roy Englebrecht is best known for his pioneering work as a serial entrepreneur as well as a veteran boxing and mixed martial arts promoter, work that earned him Hall of Fame status, and convinced Oscar Delahoya to acquired his company and they launched Golden Boy Promotions in 2002. But Englebrecht has not limited himself to the ring and cage. Among his many successful ventures, he was the brains behind the founding of the Laker Girls, he convinced Mark Harmon to buy a minor league baseball team in 1985, making a small fortune in the process, and he also launched the Sportscaster Camps of America, which had nearly 2,100 graduates over 20 years, many who went on to work for major networks.
And now, it’s time to hit the gridiron for an idea whose time has come – get ready for the 2024 Irrelevant Bowl. More information can be found at www.irrelevantbowl.com.