2014 Bowl Game Secures a Premium Friday Night Primetime Slot
American and ACC representatives to play on December 26
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (May 9, 2014) – ESPN Events, a subsidiary of ESPN, and the St. Petersburg Bowl will hold the 2014 game on Friday, Dec. 26, at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The game, which will once again air onESPN, is in its first-year of its new conference affiliation with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the American Athletic Conference.
“We’re very happy with our new post-Christmas date and having it fall on a Friday night should make it even more attractive for Tampa Bay area football fans, as well as those who will be traveling to our market from the two schools,” said Brett Dulaney, St. Petersburg Bowl Executive Director.
With the new conference agreements starting this upcoming season, the 2014 game will mark the first-time the ACC has a bowl game in the Tampa Bay region. Meanwhile, the American is set to place one of its teams in the St. Petersburg Bowl for the first time since 2010. The league sent USF, Rutgers and Louisville from 2008-10 while it was known as the BIG EAST.
“We are one of only two games for the ACC where the teams and fans can enjoy a bowl week experience in a tropical climate with events on the beach,” added Dulaney. “There’s an excellent opportunity to secure a top American team this year with the new conference affiliation. I have heard from many schools that if they don’t advance to the new playoffs they would look forward to spending bowl week with us in St. Petersburg.”
The ACC will have 15 teams available in its bowl process: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
The American will have the following 11 schools in the league this year: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF and USF.
Tickets for the 2014 St. Petersburg Bowl will go on sale later this year with prices starting as low as just $40. Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.