New College Football Bowl Agreements Taking Shape

The latest college football bowl agreements come to an end after this year.

And, an announcement is forthcoming about how the bowl landscape will change.

Brett McMurphy of watchstadium.com reports the SEC will end its affiliation with the Independence Bowl and pick up the Gasparilla Bowl.  The SEC will also alternate between the Belk and Las Vegas Bowls.

The new agreements will have a big effect on the Group of Five.  While each league will have solid affiliations, many of the Group of Five bowls are owned by ESPN.  It is expected the network will use its influence to create some regional matchups at times, rather than simply keep each conference locked into its affiliation.

As far as the Sun Belt is concerned, the league will continue hard affiliations with the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the Mobile, Alabama bowl.  The other three bowls, all owned by ESPN, will be the Camellia Bowl, the Cure Bowl and the new Myrtle Beach Bowl.  There is a guarantee a Sun Belt team will play in New Orleans and Mobile, but no guarantee the other three bowl-eligible teams will play in the other three bowls.  They could be placed elsewhere by ESPN.

All the new agreements begin in 2020.