- College Football Playoff National Championship Set for Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium
- Thirteen ESPN Events Owned and Operated Bowl Games
- Bowl Season Kicks Off Saturday, Dec. 19 with Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
ESPN will televise a 35-game college football bowl season schedule in 2020-21, continuing its long-standing commitment to the sport. The schedule features 13 ESPN Events owned and operated games, the College Football Playoff Semifinals (Friday, Jan. 1) and the entire New Year’s Six, culminating with the College Football Playoff National Championship (Monday, Jan. 11) from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Bowl Season Begins December 19
This year’s bowl season kicks off Saturday, Dec. 19 with ESPN Events’ Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl from Frisco, Texas at 7 p.m. ET.
ESPN’s lineup includes the new Montgomery Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 23 (7 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2), in addition to Camellia Bowl, also in Montgomery, Ala., which will be played on Friday, Dec. 25.
The busiest day of ESPN’s bowl campaign will be Saturday, Dec. 26, when six games are scheduled across ESPN and ABC beginning at noon with the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa and the Cure Bowl in Orlando.
ESPN continues to be the industry’s home to college football’s postseason, airing 35 of the 37 bowl games that are scheduled to be played during the newly rebranded Bowl Season.
College Football Playoff Semifinals on New Year’s Day – The Rose Bowl Game and Allstate Sugar Bowl
This season’s College Football Playoff Semifinals will return to its traditional New Year’s Day date on ESPN. The Rose Bowl Game (5 p.m.) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (8:45 p.m.) will host this year’s CFP Semifinals, while the New Year’s Six’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (12:30 p.m., ESPN) is also scheduled for Jan. 1.
The New Year’s Six also features the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 30 (7:15 p.m.) and a pair of games on Saturday, Jan. 2 – the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (4 p.m.) followed by the Capital One Orange Bowl (8 p.m.), all on ESPN.
ESPN’s 2020-21 Bowl Season Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Bowl Game | Network |
| Sat, Dec 19 | 7 p.m. | Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl ** Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas | ESPN |
| Mon, Dec 21 | 2:30 p.m. | Myrtle Beach Bowl ** Brooks Stadium, Conway, S.C. | ESPN |
| Tue, Dec 22 | 3:30 p.m. | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl ** Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho | ESPN |
| 7 p.m. | Boca Raton Bowl ** FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, Fla. | ESPN | |
| Wed, Dec 23 | 3:30 p.m. | R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans | ESPN |
| 7 p.m. | Montgomery Bowl ** Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Ala. | ESPN or ESPN2 | |
| Thu, Dec 24 | 3:30 p.m. | New Mexico Bowl ** TBD, Albuquerque, N.M. | ESPN |
| Fri, Dec 25 | 2:30 p.m. | Camellia Bowl ** Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Ala. | ESPN |
| Sat, Dec 26 | 12 p.m. | Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl ** Raymond James Stadium, Tampa | ABC |
| 12 p.m. | Cure Bowl ** Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Fla. | ESPN | |
| 3:30 p.m. | SERVPRO First Responder Bowl ** Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas | ABC | |
| 3:30 p.m. | LendingTree Bowl Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Ala. | ESPN | |
| 7 p.m. | Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl Independence Stadium, Shreveport, La. | ESPN | |
| 10:15 p.m. | Guaranteed Rate Bowl Chase Field, Phoenix | ESPN | |
| Mon, Dec 28 | 2:30 p.m. | Military Bowl Presented by Perspecta Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Md. | ESPN |
| Tue, Dec 29 | 2 p.m. | New Era Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium, New York | ESPN |
| 5:30 p.m. | Cheez-It Bowl Camping World Stadium, Orlando | ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | Valero Alamo Bowl Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas | ESPN | |
| Wed, Dec 30 | 12 p.m. | Duke’s Mayo Bowl Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte | ESPN |
| 3:30 p.m. | TransPerfect Music City Bowl Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn. | ESPN | |
| 7:15 p.m. | Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas | ESPN | |
| 10:45 p.m. | LA Bowl SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif. | ESPN | |
| Thu, Dec 31 | 12 p.m. | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl ** Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas | ESPN |
| 4 p.m. | AutoZone Liberty Bowl Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis | ESPN | |
| 8 p.m. | Texas Bowl ** NRG Stadium, Houston | ESPN | |
| Fri, Jan 1 | 12 p.m. | TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl ** Legion Field, Birmingham, Ala. | ESPN2 |
| 12:30 p.m. | Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta | ESPN | |
| 1 p.m. | Vrbo Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium, Orlando | ABC | |
| 5 p.m. | College Football Playoff Semifinal at The Rose Bowl Game Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. | ESPN | |
| 8:45 p.m. | College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans | ESPN | |
| Sat, Jan 2 | 12 p.m. | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville | ESPN |
| 12:30 p.m. | Outback Bowl Raymond James Stadium, Tampa | ABC | |
| 4 p.m. | PlayStation Fiesta Bowl State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. | ESPN | |
| 8 p.m. | Capital One Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Fla. | ESPN | |
| Mon, Jan 11 | 8 p.m. | College Football Playoff National Championship Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Fla. | ESPN |
All times Eastern. Subject to change.
** ESPN Events bowl games
Note: A decision regarding the Las Vegas Bowl will be announced in the near future
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Media contacts:
Amanda Brooks at 704-973-5042; [email protected] and @BrooksAD
Bill Hofheimer at 860-766-9589; [email protected] and @bhofheimer_espn
