ACC adds to formal football bowl game partners

The ACC’s top bowls are set for six years of postseason play following the 2014-19 seasons, and they look quite a bit like the old setup.

The league officially announced six-year partnerships with six bowls Thursday, adding to the previously announced 12-year deal with the Orange Bowl.

The league has agreements in place with the Russell Athletic Bowl (Orlando, Fla.), Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas), Belk Bowl (Charlotte, N.C.), Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tenn.), Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Pinstripe Bowl (New York). It also could have occasional participants in the Capital One Bowl (Orlando).

More bowl games are expected to be announced in the near future. Starting in 2014, the ACC will have 15 teams in its bowl pool, including Notre Dame.

“Each of these premiere bowls is recognized for its excellence, and they collectively combine to offer our 15-member league more flexibility, improved financials, marquee matchups and attractive destinations,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a league statement.

The ACC said the bowls will increase financial revenues and reduce ticket obligations for schools, although it did not provide exact figures for either.

The Orange Bowl remains the home for the league’s champion, unless that team is selected for the four-team College Football Playoff that begins in the 2014 season. If the Orange Bowl is hosting a national semifinal game and an ACC team is not involved, the ACC champion will play in another one of the host bowls — the Chick-fil-A or Fiesta.

The Russell Athletic Bowl moves up a spot to be second in the league’s pecking order, replacing the Chick-fil-A, which is one of six bowls in the College Football Playoff rotation and no longer has any league affiliations.

The ACC also has an agreement to add the Capital One Bowl in years when the game needs a replacement because the Big Ten is sending its No. 2 team to the Orange.

The next tier of bowls will be grouped together to offer the league and schools more flexibility in getting desirable matchups, accounting for geography and avoiding repeat trips for fans.

That group includes the Sun, Belk, Pinstripe, Music City and Gator. In this six-year cycle of bowl agreements, the ACC will send a team to the Music City Bowl three times and the Gator Bowl three times.

The ACC’s opponents in these games are as follows: Russell Athletic (Big 12), Capital One and Belk (SEC), Sun (Pac-12) and Pinstripe (Big Ten). The Gator and Music City opponents haven’t been finalized.

The Orange, Russell Athletic, Sun, Belk and Music City bowls are all part of the current ACC lineup in college football’s final year under the Bowl Championship Series system. The Gator Bowl hosted an ACC team from 1995-2008. The Pinstripe Bowl is a new addition announced earlier this month.

ESPN’s Brett McMurphy has also reported that the ACC will play the Big Ten in a new bowl game in Detroit and face a team from the American Athletic Conference in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md. Those matchups have not been officially announced.

Weather Journal

10 hours ago

1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County 

2. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen

3. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day

4. WOYM: Fewer stinkbugs? You may have wasps to thank

5. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys

6. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football 

7. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping 

8. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust

9. CB Manning opts to transfer from Virginia Tech

10. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli