It’s bowl season, baby.
It’s actually not. College football doesn’t even start for another 80 days, but it was great to pretend for a moment. In lieu of actual football, we have the more mundane, but nevertheless lucrative, news of contract renewals, additions for multiple conferences, and future bowl lineups.
The big mover and shaker is the Las Vegas Bowl. The event, sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, will move to a new home at the yet-to-be-completed Las Vegas Stadium. Beginning in 2020, it will also start pairing the Pac-12 Conference against a team from either the SEC or Big Ten.
Also making a splash was the Quick Lane Bowl, which will add the Big 10 as a partner along with the MAC, who has long participated, and the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, which will add the SEC as a partner.
In all, three conferences announced their future bowl lineups today, with the majority taking effect in 2020. They are as follows:
BIG TEN
The Big Ten will have 11 partner bowls with all deals running through 2025. Per their press release, “The Citrus, Outback, Music City, New Era Pinstripe, Cheez-It, Redbox and Quick Lane Bowls will feature a Big Ten team in each year of the agreement, while the Las Vegas and Belk Bowls will rotate annually and each feature three teams over the six-year agreement.”
- Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual (Big Ten Champion / Non-playoff Years)
- Capital One Orange Bowl
- Citrus Bowl
- Outback Bowl
- Belk Bowl and Las Vegas (Rotating)
- Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
- New Era Pinstripe Bowl
- Cheez-It Bowl
- Redbox Bowl
- Quick Lane Bowl
Big 12
Like the Big Ten, the Big 12 has also secured its bowl partners through 2025
- Allstate Sugar Bowl (Big 12 Champion / Non-playoff Years)
- Valero Alamo Bowl
- Camping World Bowl
- Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl
- Autozone Liberty Bowl
- Cheez-It Bowl
- Lockheed Martin Armed Forces and SERVPRO First Responder bowls (Rotating)
SEC
The SEC uses a tiered selection system, with the Citrus Bowl getting the first pick after the Sugar, Orange and any other Playoff Bowls selected. After that, they use a “Pool of Six” to place the following six teams. Once those teams are placed, if there are any SEC members eligible, the Birmingham Bowl and Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl will collaborate on the selection.
- Allstate Sugar Bowl (SEC Champion / Non-playoff Years)
- Capital One Orange Bowl (Non-playoff Years)
- Citrus Bowl (Orlando, Fla.) – first selection after CFP selection process
- Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl
- Belk Bowl and Las Vegas (Rotating)
- Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
- TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
- Outback Bowl
- Birmingham Bowl
- Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl
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