Fact vs. Facebook Rant: Independence Bowl Facts Shreveport Doesn’t Understand

The Independence Bowl has been a staple of our local sports culture since 1976, kicking off with a humble game between McNeese State and Tulsa. It grew through the 1980s with teams like Wisconsin, Clemson, Oregon, and Minnesota all making the trip to Shreveport. By the 1990s, the bowl blossomed into prime matchups with programs like LSU, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Maryland, Arkansas, and Ole Miss.

As the century turned to 2000, the bowl may have hit its stride. Starting with the legendary "Snow Bowl" game between Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Teams like Alabama, Nebraska, South Carolina, Boston College, Miami (FL), Duke, Colorado, and Florida State all got the call to the Ark-La-Tex.

Now, in modern day, fans in Shreveport and Bossier City love to reminisce about the 1990s and early 2000s when the I-Bowl was hosting heavy hitters. They complain about modern matchups on an annual basis...yet they seem to forget that the landscape of college football has changed dramatically since Nick Saban was coaching at Michigan State. We treat this bowl game like a public utility that owes us prime-time matchups, but we refuse to acknowledge that in the modern era, you get exactly what you pay for.

Let's be honest, for many in Shreveport-Bossier, the expectations for this game have completely detached from reality.

The Modern Independence Bowl In Shreveport

The harsh reality is that the current landscape of college football doesn't really allow the Independence Bowl to pull teams and conferences the same way they did 20 years ago because of money...plain and simple. Much like everything else in Shreveport, decision makers (not those at the I-Bowl, but those who make funding decisions for the game) believe that what the budget called for in 2002 is good enough for today. That mindset is leaving us in the dust, not just with the bowl game either.

While the Independence Bowl did get a small bump from a newer hotel tax, other communities have raised tremendous amounts of revenue to support their bowl games, and the payouts reflect that ambition. Shreveport had to fight hard to get a vote approved on a 1.5% increase to the hotel/motel tax in 2015. That was estimated to raise $1.7 million a year, but its split between the Independence Bowl Foundation, and a few other organizations.

Shreveport Is Getting Lapped By Other Bowl Games

In the year 2014, the Indy Bowl was upper-middle class when it came to payouts, offering around $1.15 million for teams, which was enough to stay competitive with games like the Las Vegas Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl. That payout was consistent with what they offered years before when they were landing those strong SEC teams, because at the time, it was one of the better checks to cash in the postseason. But while we sat still, the rest of the country started writing bigger checks.

By 2023, the Independence Bowl payout had jumped to $2.2 million, which sounds like a nice increase until you look at the competition. In that same timeframe, the Holiday Bowl (which used to be in our weight class) skyrocketed to a massive $6.5 million payout. While Shreveport is currently offering just over $2 million. Games like the Music City Bowl are throwing around $5.7 million, and the Texas Bowl is handing out $6.4 million. It is embarrassing to expect top-tier teams to prioritize Shreveport, when the city offers them a fraction of what they can make elsewhere.

Bowl Tie In Strategies With The Big 12 And Others

This is one of the biggest misconceptions every year on social media: The Independence Bowl doesn't get to call every team they want an ask them to come.

There are contracts in place with athletic conferences, schools, TV networks, and sponsors that control the pool that the Independence Bowl gets to play in, every year. This means in a year like we have in 2025, they can't "just go get LSU", because their conference agreements are not with the SEC. This year's game was a main agreement between the Big 12 and Conference USA, which means they could only take teams that became bowl eligible from those conferences. Well, they did have a backup agreement too, because problems like the Big 12 do come up.

With the payout stuck at the same rate for a decade, conferences are no longer prioritizing the Independence Bowl. The Big 12 has listed Shreveport as their 6th bowl option, and when two of their bowl-eligible teams pout, cry, and refuse to play...the conference runs out of teams to offer. It is frustrating to watch, but money talks, and right now our money is whispering while other bowls are screaming.

This year's backup agreement was with the Sun Belt, and with the Big 12 being a pack of cowards, the Sun Belt got the call to serve the game. While it would have been cool to see ULL play Tech here, I'm 99% sure ULL chickened out hard on that matchup against Louisiana Tech. Other Sun Belt options, like Arkansas State, Texas State, and Georgia Southern, would all have been cool options too. But Coastal Carolina got the bid to come to Shreveport. Which is probably because the Sun Belt did what the Big 12 should have, and honored their direct agreements instead of playing games with side deals.

The Big 12 has enough bowl eligible teams, even with the quitters in their ranks, to fill their Independence Bowl agreement. However...instead of honoring the Big 12 bowl agreements, the conference prioritized bowl tie-ins for the Pac 12 conference. So they took Arizona State, Utah, and Arizona out of the available mix. That meant the Big 12 couldn't fill their responsibility.

So this year, we're getting Louisiana Tech from Conference USA, and Coastal Carolina from the Sun Belt. Having Louisiana Tech play locally is awesome, and Coastal Carolina has some fun features...it should be a really good game.

How To Fix Shreveport's Independence Bowl

If you are one of the people complaining that we didn't get an SEC powerhouse, or a Big 12 marquee name, you need to look in the mirror and check your wallet. Want to see dominant SEC programs back in the bowl? Then we need to pass a property tax directed straight to the bowl, or new sales tax, or increase the hotel/motel tax, or whatever you're willing to do to fund it.

Do a millage to raise another $4 million dollars, throw it into the payout, and get your desired result...otherwise, enjoy the game we paid for, and quit living in 1997.