Cal Sports Report

Report: Cal Will Continue to Play in Bowl Games with Pac-12 Ties for 2 Years

The move to the ACC won't initially alter the postseason opportunities for current Pac-12 teams
Jeff Faraudo|
Jaydn Ott
Jaydn Ott | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

California Golden Bears

Story updated

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Cal’s new home beginning in the fall, announced its bowl schedule for 2024 on Thursday, but so-called legacy members of the Pac-12 -- including the Bears -- will continue to play in bowl games currently lined up with the Pac-12.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reported the news earlier this week, just before the ACC announced its bowl schedule for the 2024 football season on Thursday.

The ruling appears to be the result of the Alamo Bowl being denied the chance to replace its Pac-12 team with new Southeastern Conference members Texas or Oklahoma the next two seasons.

“Allowing the Alamo to take OU or Texas instead of a Pac-12 legacy team would have caused a lot of issues with the SEC bowls,” a source told McMurphy. “And we don’t like issues.”

The contract between 10 conferences and the bowl games runs through 2025, so for now, at least, those affiliations will remain in place.

The Bears, whose appearance in the Independence Bowl last year was their first postseason bid since 2019, will eventually be introduced to a new lineup of potential bowl partners with the ACC.

Gone will be the Alamo, Las Vegas, Sun, LA and Independence bowls.

The Holiday Bowl, in which Cal has played three times, is listed as to be announced by the ACC and is not currently included in the national lineup of bowl games.

The Rose Bowl — a significant bucket-list item for Old Blues — remains in play but will require an exceptional season by the Bears. Along with the Fiesta, Peach and Sugar bowls, the Rose Bowl is slotted as one of four CFP quarterfinal games in the new, 12-team college football playoff.

The next thing Cal fans will notice is that, apparently beginning in 2026, significant travel will be required to attend any of the ACC-affiliated bowl games. Other than the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl on Dec. 31 at El Paso, Texas, every other bowl game with ACC ties is located more than 2,000 miles from the Bay Area.

Because of the time-zone difference, only two of the games involving ACC teams will have late afternoon PT kickoffs. And one of them -- the Fenway Bowl in Boston -- will get started at 8 a.m. PT.

Here’s the ACC bowl schedule: 

Friday, December 20, 2024

Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa, Florida) – 12:30 p.m. PT / ESPN

Friday, December 27, 2024

Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama) – 9 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. PT / ESPN

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Fenway Bowl (Boston, Massachusetts) – 8 a.m. PT / ESPN

Pinstripe Bowl (The Bronx, New York) – 9 a.m. PT / ABC

Pop-Tarts Bowl (Orlando, Florida) – 12:30 p.m. PT / ABC

Military Bowl presented by GoBowling.com (Washington DC) – 2:45 p.m. PT / ESPN

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas) – 11 a.m. PT / CBS

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Florida) – 4:30 p.m. PT / ESPN

Friday, January 3, 2025

Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Charlotte, North Carolina) – 4:30 p.m. PT / ESPN

TBA

Holiday Bowl

Published | Modified
Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics. 

Home/Football