A couple of days after it was reported that the American Athletic Conference would be part of a “coalition” of non-power conferences that would play in still-to-be-created bowls in the Bahamas, Boca Raton and Miami, the conference has announced future tie-ins with existing bowl games..
The AAC announced in a press release that it has extended its existing agreements with the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. The league also confirmed tie-ins to the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, (in 2014, 2016 and 2018) and the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii (in 2015, 2017 and 2019).
Three of the top six teams in the AAC in any given year will play in that group of postseason games as part of agreements that stretches through the 2019 season.
“We are proud to continue our successful partnership with the industry leader in sports television. ESPN has established some of the most attractive bowl games in the nation,” said conference commissioner Mike Aresco in a statement. “These bowls allow us to play outstanding teams and they will also annually reward our student-athletes and coaches with memorable postseason experiences. Our fans will enjoy these great destinations and a national television audience will enjoy watching these compelling bowl games.”
As for the conferences they will be playing in those four games...
For the other three bowl games mentioned at the top, the pool of potential opponents will come from Conference USA, the MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt leagues.
It had previously been announced that the AAC and ACC had entered a partnership with the Military Bowl.
The release notes that "[t]he rest of the conference’s postseason lineup for the 2014-19 cycle will be announced in the coming weeks.”
