Big Ten Conference Announces New Bowl Lineups

It is fun to go to bell games again, isn’t it? The past two seasons has seen Purdue take advantage of the reorganized bowl lineups to head to a pair of new locations: the San Francisco Bay Area and Nashville. The current lineup of bowl games ends after this coming season, and the Big Ten announced the lineup for the 2020-25 seasons:

The Big Ten’s new bowl lineup will allow teams and fans to visit world-class cities while having the opportunity to experience 11 different NFL stadiums, along with some of the most iconic venues in the country, including Rose Bowl Stadium and Yankee Stadium. These outstanding facilities have hosted or will host 29 different Super Bowls in nine different stadiums. In addition, new partnerships in Charlotte and Las Vegas will create opportunities for new postseason experiences for participants and fans, while the conference returns to Phoenix for the first time since the 2013 postseason.

The Big Ten’s future bowl lineup consists of the following postseason games:

Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual (Pasadena, Calif.)

Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami)

Citrus Bowl (Orlando, Fla.)

Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.)

Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas)

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tenn.)

New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, N.Y.)

Belk Bowl (Charlotte, N.C.)

Cheez-It Bowl (Phoenix)

Redbox Bowl (Santa Clara, Calif.)

Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Mich.)

The conference office announced six-year bowl extensions with the Citrus, Music City, Outback, Quick Lane and Redbox Bowls and six-year agreements with the Belk, Cheez-It and Las Vegas Bowls. The Big Ten’s current agreement with the Pinstripe Bowl, which runs through 2021, has also been extended through 2025. The Big Ten previously announced a 12-year extension to face a Pac-12 team in the Rose Bowl Game through the 2025 campaign and an agreement with the Orange Bowl to send a Big Ten team to face an ACC representative at least three times following the 2014-25 seasons.

The selection process remains the same as well. Rather than a slotting system based on the standings, the bowls will work with he conference to create the matchups. The Las Vegas and Belk Bowls will also rotate, with each receiving a Big Ten team three times over six years as opposed to all six years. The agreements are also in place to avoid repeat visits, as most of the agreements stipulate that there will be at least five different teams over a six year period. That basically means Purdue will not go to the Bay Area or Nashville after this season because we have already been to each under the current agreement.

The exception, of course, is Pasadena for the Rose Bowl or Miami for the Orange Bowl (in years where the Rose Bowl is a playoff semifinal). We can go to those all six years or to the Playoff all six years.