It’s a reward for the teams that qualify for months of often thankless (from the public at least) work.
They offer chances for schools to broadcast a positive image of their institution during some of the most visible viewing windows of the entire year.
The games can be economically beneficial to the host cities, and certainly benefit bowl overlord ESPN and the committees that make them a full-time job.
Ohio head coach Frank Solich has been a part of more than nearly everyone else currently involved in college football. As a player, as a long-time assistant at Nebraska, then as a head coach at Nebraska and currently with Ohio, Solich has been a part of more than three dozen bowl games — and that may be a conservative estimate.