Three new bowl games revealed; total now 42
PHOENIX — Bowl glut, what bowl glut?
Three new bowls were certified Tuesday by the NCAA, bringing the total to a new record 42 postseason games. The new bowl games will begin this year and be hosted in Austin, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Orlando, Florida, NCAA managing director of championships and alliances Damani Leech told CBSSports.com.
There have been eight new bowls added in the last two years.
The certification creates an even further strain on the system to find enough bowl-eligible teams to populate these new bowls. Last year, five eligible teams were left out of the postseason system after all the bowl slots were filled.
With six more bowl slots, there will be 82 teams in 42 bowls. The College Football Playoff National Championship does not count as a stand-alone postseason game because it does not require two unique teams.
Going into last season, the four-year average for bowl-eligible teams was 73.75.
Approximately 64 percent of the Football Bowl Subdivision will now be bowling. One athletic director in Phoenix for conference spring meetings wondered whether 5-7 teams would soon earn bids in order to fill out bowls. The current qualification standard is 6-6.
“I’ve quit worrying about numbers,” said Wright Waters, executive director of the Football Bowl Association.
The bowl lineup has more than doubled since 1995 (when there were 18 bowls). During the 16 years of the BCS (1998-2013), bowls increased from 20 to 35.
The Austin game will feature a matchup between teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt. In Tucson and Orlando, representatives from Conference USA and the Mountain West will meet.
Austin bowl officials have spoken to University of Texas officials about playing the game in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Playing at a nearby minor league baseball stadium remains a possibility, too.
Little Rock recently withdrew its application for a bowl.
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