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. The eligible conferences are the American, CUSA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt.
• After playing the 2020 season as a full ACC member, Notre Dame returns to business as usual as an independent. However, by agreement with the ACC, the Irish are eligible for all ACC bowl games.

Additional Information

New Bowl Games

The L.A. Bowl will be held at Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park, which will also host the 2023 College Football Playoff title game.

The Fenway Bowl will be held at Fenway Park in Boston.

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

For the 2021-22 academic year, 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 postseason football game. Each independent institution will also receive $300,000 when its football team meets that standard.

A conference will receive $6 million for each team that is selected for a Playoff Semifinal. 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 bowls, or in the national championship game will receive $2.63 million to cover expenses for each game.

Based on calculations from the 2020-21 season the following distributions were made in the spring of 2021. Estimates for the 2021-22 season will be finalized following the 2022 CFP National Championship.

Each of the 10 conferences received a base amount. For conferences that have contracts for their champions to participate in the Orange, Rose, or Sugar bowls, the base combined with the full academic performance pool was approximately $57 million for each conference. The five conferences that do not have contacts for their champions to participate in the Orange, Rose or Sugar bowls received approximately $83 million in aggregate (full academic pool plus base). The conferences distribute these funds as they choose. Notre Dame received a payment of $2.5 million by meeting the APR standard; the other three independents shared $1.85 million.

Certain conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision received approximately $2.85 million in aggregate.