Report: Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl get new title sponsors
The Cotton and Fiesta Bowls, part of the new College Football Playoff rotation, have new title sponsors, according to ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy.
The Cotton Bowl, played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be sponsored by tire company Goodyear, while electronics giant Vizio will sponsor the Fiesta Bowl. Vizio had sponsored the Rose Bowl the previous four seasons.
AT&T had previously sponsored the Cotton Bowl since 2006. Tostitos had sponsored the Fiesta Bowl, played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., for the past 18 years, ending one of the longest sponsorships in college football.
Starting this season, a four-team playoff that will help determine the national champion replaces the Bowl Championship Series, which had been in effect since 1998.
Title sponsorship deals in the old Bowl Championship paid in the $15 million to $20 million range, whereas the College Football Playoff title sponsorships could be as much as $25 million a year, according to published reports.
The selection committee for the College Football Playoff will announce pairings for each bowl on Dec. 7. The committee's first Top 25 rankings will be released Tuesday night.
Next season, the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl, now sponsored by Capital One, will each host one of the College Football Playoff semifinals on Dec. 31.
The Fiesta Bowl’s turn to host a semifinal game will be Dec. 31, 2016. The other semifinal game that year will be the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
This season, the semifinals will be held at the Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual in Pasadena, Calif., and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. The national championship will be Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium.
- Scooby Axson
