ACC Adds Two Bowls to Lineup for 2006-09

ACC Adds Two Bowls to Lineup for 2006-2009


ACC Commissioner John Swofford announced the new ACC bowl tie-ins on Tuesday
morning, the last full day of the ACC Football Kickoff at The Homestead Resort
in Hot Springs, VA. The ACC will keep all previous bowls, as well as add the
Music City Bowl and the Emerald Bowl. This agreement will begin with the 2006
season and will expire at the end of the 2009 season.

This
will bring the total number of bowl tie-ins for the ACC to eight, meaning that
potentially the conference could be sending two-thirds of its teams to
postseason play beginning with the 2006 season. It is unclear at this point in
what order the bowls will be picking.

The Gator Bowl currently has the first selection after the BCS. To hold onto
this spot, the Gator will probably have to increase its payout. The Raleigh News
and Observer reported this morning that the Gator will increase its payout from
$1.6 million to $2.5 million, which is more in line with other New Year’s Day
bowls. However, the Gator could draw a strong challenge from the Peach Bowl. The
Peach Bowl will increase its payout to over $2.4 million.

The
Champs Sports Bowl has made the move to upper-tier bowl game status as well,
upping their guaranteed payout from $850,000 to $2 million, which means half of
the ACC’s bowl games will pay $2 million or above.

The remaining ACC bowl games, the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the MPC Computers
Bowl, plan to increase their payout as well, but it is not clear how much at
this point.

The table below shows what the 2006 ACC Bowl lineup will look like. Since it
isn’t clear which pick each bowl will have, the table is ordered by projected
bowl payout.

2006 ACC Bowl Tie-Ins

Bowl

Old Payout

New Payout

BCS *

$11-17 million

$11-17 million

Gator *

$1.6 million

$2.5 million

Peach *

$2.2 million

$2.4 million

Champs Sports *

$850,000

$2 million

Music City Bowl

$1.1 million

?

Meineke Car Care *

$750,000

?

MPC Computers *

$750,000

?

Emerald

$750,000

?

* Indicates bowl game is part of
ACC’s tie-ins for 2005.



Assuming the Music City Bowl’s payout stays the same or increases, the ACC
is looking at five bowl games that pay out over $1 million, or perhaps even more
than five, depending on how much the Meineke Car Care and MPC Computers increase
their payouts.

The Music City Bowl, played in Nashville, Tennessee, previously pitted an SEC
team against a Big Ten team, and before that, an SEC team against a Big East
team. Virginia Tech won the inaugural Music City Bowl back in 1998, defeating
Alabama 38-7. The Music City Bowl had a payout of $1.1 million per team in 2004.

The Emerald Bowl is played in San Francisco, California. Previously this bowl
was called the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. The Hokies traveled to this
bowl game following the 2002 season, where they defeated Air Force 20-13. The
Emerald Bowl had a payout of $750,000 in 2004.