My analysis of the tiers of college bowl games according to payouts in millions per team. 5 Tiers of College Bowl Games by payout per team in millions

Tier 1:

NCG 18

Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar 17

Tier 2: Capitol One 4.6, Cotton 3.625, Outback 3.5,Chick-Fil-A 3.45 (avg per team),Insight 3.35,Alamo 3.175

Tier 3: Gator 2.7,Holiday 2.15,Sun 2.0,Music City 1.838,Pinstripe 1.8,Meineke Car Care 1.7, Belk 1.7

Tier 4: Independence 1.15,Maaco 1.1,Ticket City 1.1, Military .863,Kraft Fight Hunger .838

Tier 5: New Mexico .75,Idaho Potato .75,Hawaii .75,Little Caesar's .75, BBVA Compass .75 (avg per team), Armed Forces .60,New Orleans .50, Beef-O-Brady's .50, Poinsettia .50

I won't attempt to elaborate on the personal feelings and importance anyone attaches to any given bowl game. However, you can see the penalty a Non AQ pays for losing a single game.