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The 2026 bowl calendar will have one fewer game on its schedule, as the LA Bowl will shut down after this year's matchup between Washington and Boise State on Saturday night, according to Brett McMurphy. 

There have been questions about the bowl season's viability in college football for years, but with the expanded College Football Playoff, shifts in the calendar with the transfer portal and a number of teams declining bowl bids, concern about the future of the bowl season as we know it has reached a fever pitch in 2025. 

We've seen star players opt out of bowls for years, trying to avoid injury before heading off to the NFL, and now some choose not to play as they look for a new destination within college football via the transfer portal. However, this year's bowl selection process saw multiple team opt outs from bowl eligible squads -- most notably Notre Dame after its playoff snub, but also Kansas State and Iowa State after coaching changes. 

That felt like a sizable shift in how programs themselves view bowl games as a far less important venture to participate in. By the time the Birmingham Bowl got to pick its teams, it had to scramble just to find an opponent for Georgia Southern late on Selection Sunday, getting turned down by a number of 5-7 teams before finally getting Appalachian State to sign on. 

The days of 30+ bowl games outside the playoff system seem numbered. As college football becomes more professionalized, business decisions rule over everything -- from players to coaches to programs as a whole. Bowl games that aren't part of the playoff generally aren't viewed as great business for any of those parties. 

Smaller bowls have fought an uphill battle for some time, especially those trying to land power conference programs. Players have a lot more on their minds in December and January now with the portal, and a trip to the LA Bowl isn't necessarily at the top of their priority list. With the way the calendar sets up and the coaching carousel spinning rapidly as soon as the regular season ends, teams that lose a coach have different priorities as well, as those players have to consider their options for the future with a new staff set to come in. 

Bowl games aren't going to go away in total. There's still money to be made for the TV networks who get to fill valuable space with games that still draw well with viewership. That said, it wouldn't be a surprise if we see even more bowl season shrinkage in the near future. 

Even bigger bowls face problems of player and program motivation, as goals have shifted with the playoff that makes more teams believe they have a real shot at a national championship. That has plenty of benefits, but among the consequences is that teams that finish in the top 20 but fail to make the playoff find it much more difficult to get excited to play in a normal bowl game. 

With the playoff set for another round of expansion, that issue won't be going away, and it's hard to imagine the LA Bowl will be alone as a bowl season casualty in the coming years.