BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (June 4, 2019) — The Southeastern Conference on Tuesday announced six-year agreements with 10 football post-season bowls, which includes the addition of the Las Vegas Bowl and the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, beginning with the 2020 post-season.
The 10 bowls are in addition to bowl games in the College Football Playoff system for which SEC teams are eligible to qualify. Also, the SEC participates in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in years it is not a CFP semifinal game and the Capital One Orange Bowl in selected years.
The SEC has extended its current agreements through 2025 with the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the Outback Bowl in Tampa, the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in Nashville, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis and the Birmingham Bowl.
In addition, the SEC will continue its relationship with the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, participating in that bowl game in 2021, 2023 and 2025. For the remaining three years of the six-year cycle, SEC teams will participate in the Las Vegas Bowl against a Pac-12 opponent in 2020, 2022 and 2024. The SEC has also added a new bowl partnership with the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa through 2025.
“We are pleased to have an SEC bowl lineup that provides exciting destinations for our student-athletes and traveling fans,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “We enjoy great relationships with some of the best bowl games in college football and this lineup will continue to provide a wide array of rewarding bowl game experiences for our student-athletes and fans in celebration of a successful season.”
The SEC will maintain its current bowl selection process in which the Citrus Bowl has the first selection of available SEC teams after any conference schools have qualified for the College Football Playoff, the Allstate Sugar Bowl or the Capital One Orange Bowl, after which the SEC assigns teams to a Pool of Six bowls.
The SEC Pool of Six consists of the Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, Texas Bowl and Liberty Bowl, as well as the Las Vegas Bowl in 2020, 2022 and 2024, and the Belk Bowl in 2021, 2023 and 2025. In consultation with SEC member institutions, as well as these six bowls, the conference will make assignments for the bowl games in the pool system.
After the Pool of Six selection process is complete, the Birmingham Bowl and Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl will collaborate on the selection of remaining eligible teams each year.
The current SEC bowl selection process coincided with the beginning of the new College Football Playoff that followed the 2014 college football season.
Other opponents in SEC bowl games will be announced separately.
SEC BOWLS AND SELECTION PROCESS (2020-2025)
Citrus Bowl (Orlando, FL) – first selection after CFP selection process
SEC POOL OF SIX BOWLS:
After the Citrus Bowl selects a team, the Conference, in consultation with the institutions and the bowls, will make assignments for bowl games in the SEC Pool of Six from all eligible SEC teams.
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston, TX)
AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Memphis, TN)
Belk Bowl (Charlotte, NC) (2021, 2023, 2025)
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (Nashville, TN)
Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) vs. Pac-12 (2020, 2022, 2024)
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, FL)
Outback Bowl (Tampa, FL)
BOWLS SELECTIONS FOLLOWING THE POOL OF SIX:
The Birmingham Bowl and Gasparilla Bowl will collaborate on the selection of teams for these games.
Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, AL)
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa, FL)
