There will be fewer games in this year’s college football bowl season, but for now, the schedule remains extensive.
The college football bowl season schedule was officially announced Friday and will consist of no more than 38 games, down from 40 last year. [Related: College football TV schedule.] The reduced schedule is due to the cancellation of at least five bowl games — Bahamas, Hawaii, Holiday, Quick Lane, RedBox and possibly Las Vegas — with only two new ones to make up the difference (LA and Montgomery).
The ESPN family of networks would carry up to 36 of the bowl games, with the two exceptions airing on CBS (the Sun Bowl) and CBS Sports Network (the Arizona Bowl). Fox Sports’ two annual bowl games were among the ones canceled.
The Frisco Bowl would lead off the bowl lineup on December 19 — the same day as college football’s conference championship games — followed by the Myrtle Beach Bowl on December 21 and doubleheaders on December 22 and 23. The New Mexico Bowl would take place on Christmas Eve and the Camellia Bowl on Christmas Day, the latter marking the first Christmas bowl game since the 2003 Hawaii Bowl.
The schedule would pick up after Christmas with a six-game slate on December 26, seven over the next three days, and five games each on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The schedules for the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six were previously set and remain unchanged, with the Cotton Bowl on December 30, the Peach, Rose and Sugar on January 1, Fiesta and Orange on January 2, and National Championship on January 11. The Rose and Sugar are, as originally planned, set to host the CFP semifinals.
Five bowls are set to air on broadcast television. In addition to the previously-mentioned Sun Bowl on CBS, ABC plans to carry two on December 26 (Gasparilla and First Responder) plus the January 1 Citrus Bowl and January 2 Outback Bowl.
[Nielsen estimates from Bowl Season 10.30]
