The Big Ten and the Pac-12 have decided to take their college football relationship to the next level. No longer just the very romantic, but only once a year Rose Bowl fling, the two leagues announced a new partnership with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and Holiday Bowl.
Jim Delany, Commissioner, Big Ten Conference, Larry Scott, Commissioner, Pac-12 Conference. Gary Cavalli, Executive Director, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and Bruce Binkowski, Executive Director, Holiday Bowl will all be on media conference call tomorrow to discuss the details.
That makes it four new bowls in Big Ten postseason lineup this offseason. You have Holiday, Kraft, Music City and…the New York Yankees and the Pinstripe Bowl went public with their new relationship with the Big Ten Conference earlier this month.
The Holiday Bowl will enter a new era in 2014 as it begins a six-year partnership with the Big Ten Conference and extends its current relationship with the Pac-12 Conference for six years, bowl officials announced today. The Holiday Bowl will have the second pick from the Pac-12 after the College Football Playoff structure per selection guidelines established by the Conference. The Alamo Bowl has the first selection. The Big Ten team will be determined after discussion between bowl and conference officials to create the best possible matchup.
Included in the Big Ten agreement is the stipulation that the Holiday Bowl will not have the same team in its game more than twice during the six-year span. The Holiday Bowl previously enjoyed a relationship with the Big Ten from 1992-94 and conference teams have played in nine games, beginning with a victory by Indiana in 1979. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State have played in the Holiday Bowl, including when the Wolverines faced BYU for the national championship in 1984.
The Big Ten is forming a college football alliance with the Pac-12 similar to their annual hooking up with the ACC in college basketball. You have the Big Ten vs ACC Challenge every early December. You have the Rose Bowl between the Big Ten and the Pac-12 every January 1. Now the Big Ten and Pac-12 will be squaring off in the Kraft and Holiday Bowls too.
he Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl today announced six-year agreements that will establish a new partnership with the Big Ten and significantly improve the Bowl’s selection rights in the Pac-12. Both pacts will run from 2014 through 2019.
Effective with the new match-up, the Bowl will be played in the new 68,500 seat Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, future home of the NFL San Francisco 49ers and site of the Super Bowl in 2016.
“Our objective entering negotiations for the next bowl cycle was to elevate the game,” said Bowl Executive Director Gary Cavalli.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to Yardbarker, Twitter (@PaulMBanks), Facebook Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook