No, the big payoff from quiz bowl is, simply put, the way it changes the way you think under pressure. There’s a moment in certain quiz bowl questions where you hear something familiar, and some part of your reptile hindbrain subconsciously starts deciding for you whether or not you know this answer. (Evolutionary psychologists believe this is a vestigial trait left over from dinosaur pub quizzes.) Before your higher brain function can catch up, certainly before the answer has materialized on the tip of your tongue, some part of the brain has done the math, instinctively decided that the answer is within reach, and instructed your thumb to buzz. It’s an odd feeling: you don’t quite know the answer yet, but somehow you know that you know it. The buzz itself is almost reflexive. Then you have a second or two to dig for the answer.
A related skill that quiz bowl experience gives is the ability to free associate answers to questions about which you don't have any actual knowledge. I'm not talking about the garden-variety, knee-jerk reflexes that kick in when you hear the phrase "Finnish architect" (although you can be burned here), but rather the kind of associations that allow you to produce a correct answer to a question about which you have no actual conscious knowledge. I'd give an example, but I don't have access to my subconscious knowledge base right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This is a skill that is occasionally useful at parties, as you can dredge up bits of information to keep a conversation going even when you don't really know what you're talking about. If you're wrong, people don't pay much attention, but if you're right, your conversation partner can be impressed that you actually "know" something about whatever arcane topic he or she happens to be harping on and on about.
Also, writing questions is one of the ways that playing quiz bowl can really help improve one's knowledge base.