About the Data

• Times shown are Eastern Time Zone.
• 1 The highest-ranked champion from a Group of Five conference is guaranteed one berth in one of these four major bowls slotted by the playoff committee. For 2020, the eligible conferences are the American, CUSA, and Sun Belt.
• 2 The New Mexico Bowl, due to Covid restrictions, is moved to Frisco, Texas this year.
• 3 The Montgomery Bowl will be played as substitute of the Fenway Bowl for this season only.
• 4 These bowls were canceled on selection Sunday: Guaranteed Rate, Independence, Birmingham and Military.
• 5 These bowls were scheduled for 2020, but later canceled prior to selection Sunday: Pinstripe, L.A., Sun, and Frisco.
• 6 The semifinal playoff game slated for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena has been moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
• Other games canceled: Several bowls were never scheduled for this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic - Bahamas, Fenway, Hawai’i, Holiday, Las Vegas, Quick Lane and Redbox.
• Notre Dame is playing a full ACC slate in 2020. Thus, the Irish have the same bowl and playoff eligibility as any other ACC team.

Additional Information

New Bowl Games

The Los Angeles Bowl (first selection from the Mountain West against a Pac-12 team). The Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park opens in 2020 and will also host the 2023 College Football Playoff title game. The MWC's 19-year tie-in with the Las Vegas Bowl ended after last season.

The Myrtle Beach Bowl, created by ESPN, will feature teams from Conference USA, the Mid-American and Sun Belt. Each conference will play four times between 2020-25.

The first game of the new Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park in Boston has been postponed to 2021. It will feature teams from the American Conference and the ACC. For 2020, this is being replaced by the Montgomery Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.

Payouts

Information from the 2019-2020 bowl games had not been released as of September 4, 2020. Amounts shown are actual 2018-2019 (updated 12/9/19) total payouts per information available from the NCAA. Conferences have different methods by which bowl money is divided among its membership and participating teams. Some bowl agreements call for higher payouts to one conference than the other, depending on such factors as which is the "host" conference.

Total postseason payout increased to 185,541,894 in 2018 from $95,529,361 in 2017 for a difference of $90,012,134. Most of the difference came from an additional Rose Bowl payout of $76,239,890 and additional  Sugar Bowl payout of $10,500,000.

If you include the College Football Playoff Distribution Policy explained below, the total payout was $647,975,001 in 2018 for an increase of $87,380,566 over the $560,594,435 total payout in 2017. Again, the bulk of the difference came from the additional payouts from the Rose and Sugar Bowls.

The 2016 payout was $622,600,033.

The final year of the BCS (2013) generated $309,900,000.

Playoff Revenue Distribution Policy

The following estimates of the CFP revenue distribution are based on preliminary calculations for the 2019-2020 season and are only approximate projections of potential revenue distribution from each component: As of September 4, 2020, no information has been provided for 2020-2021 policy.

Each conference will receive $300,000 for each of its schools when the school's football team meets the NCAA's APR for participation in a post-season football game. Each independent institution will also receive $300,000 when its football team meets that standard.

Each of the 10 conferences will also receive a base amount. For conferences that have contracts for their champions to participate in the Orange, Rose, or Sugar Bowl, the base combined with the full academic performance pool will be approximately $66 million for each conference. The five conferences that do not have contacts for their champions to participate in the Orange, Rose or Sugar Bowls will receive approximately $90 million in aggregate (full academic pool plus base), which the conferences will distribute as they choose. Notre Dame will receive a payment of $3.19 million if it meets the APR standard; the other three independents will share $1.56 million.

A conference will receive $6 million for each team that is selected for the semifinal games. There will be no additional distribution to conferences whose teams qualify for the national championship game. A conference will receive $4 million for each team that plays in a non-playoff bowl under the arrangement.

Each conference whose team participates in a playoff semifinal, Cotton, Fiesta, or Peach Bowl, or in the national championship game will receive $2.43 million to cover expenses for each game.

Additionally, certain conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision will receive $2.7 million in aggregate.

Bowl Name Changes

The Belk Bowl in Charlotte becomes Duke's Mayo Bowl.
The Cheez-It Bowl in Phoenix becomes the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
The Camping World Bowl in Orlando becomes the Cheez-It Bowl.
Multiple other bowls have new sponsors but the primary bowl name was unchanged.