The Atlantic Coast Conference champion will travel to a similar bowl destination for the foreseeable future: The Discover Orange Bowl in Miami.
The ACC and the Orange Bowl committee announced that they had come to terms on a 12-year agreement that will showcase the league champion in the Orange Bowl. The deal will begin following the 2014 season. The game is scheduled to be played on New Year’s Day at 1 p.m.
With the new playoff system to be instituted by the 2014 season, the selection committee for the playoff semifinals will hold the authority to place the ACC champion in the playoffs. If the league champion were to be selected as a national semifinalist, the Orange Bowl would then select a replacement team from the ACC to participate in the game – likely to be the conference’s runner-up.
The agreement comes as part of the new postseason college football arrangement announced by the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee last week.
The Orange Bowl anticipates that, as part of the college football playoff, it will be selected as one of the host sites for the semifinals in multiple years – “at least four,” according to a league press release – once the deal is set in place. In such instances, the ACC champion would then participate in one of three host bowls chosen by the BCS committee.
There is no word on which league would play against the ACC champion. The four other major leagues already have annual bowl partnerships in place to compete against each other, with the SEC and Big 12 champions squaring off in the Cotton Bowl and the Big 10 and Pac-12 champions pairing up in the Rose Bowl.
A broadcast partner for the game has not been announced.
“The ACC and Discover Orange Bowl have a terrific relationship and, as we look ahead to the future of postseason college football, this will further an already beneficial partnership for both organizations,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a press release. “The Discover Orange Bowl has a rich history of prestige, is located within the league’s footprint and is a great destination for our student-athletes, alumni and fans. In addition to our continued partnership, we are very pleased to be playing annually on New Year’s Day.”
The ACC’s previous deal with the Orange Bowl began in 2006. Since then, Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Clemson have all participated in the annual contest.
Clemson fell to West Virginia 70-33 in the 2012 game.
