MAC Announces Creation of the Myrtle Beach Bowl

The Mid-American Conference announced today the creation of a newly created bowl game in Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a six-year period (2020-2025), which will be owned and operated by ESPN. The Myrtle Beach Bowl will be televised nationally on ESPN networks and will be played at Brooks Stadium, an open-air stadium opened in 2003 which seats nearly 21,000 fans on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.

The creation of the Myrtle Beach Bowl is an agreement with ESPN Events and the Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference, with each Conference participating in the bowl game four times during the six-year span.

With the addition of the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the MAC has expanded its bowl opportunities during the next six-year cycle beginning in 2020. The MAC will have a minimum six guaranteed bowl opportunities.

At future date to be determined, the MAC will reveal its complete bowl partnerships for the next bowl cycle (2020-2025).

MAC Primary Bowl Partners 2018-19:
2018 Bowl Season:
• Dollar General Bowl (Mobile, Ala.; vs. Sun Belt)
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise, Ida.; vs. Mountain West)
• Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.; vs. Sun Belt)
• Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl (Nassau, Bahamas; vs. Conference USA)
• Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas; vs. American Athletic Conference)
• Secondary to Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Fla.)
• Secondary to Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Mich.)
• Secondary to ESPN owned and operated bowl games

2019 Bowl Season:
• Dollar General Bowl (Mobile, Ala.; vs. Sun Belt)
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise, Ida.; vs. Mountain West)
• Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.; vs. Sun Belt)
• Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Fla.; vs. American Athletic Conference)
• Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl (Nassau, Bahamas; vs. Conference USA)
• Secondary to Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Mich.)
• Secondary to ESPN owned and operated bowl games

Mid-American Conference
Founded in 1946, the Mid-American Conference is an NCAA Division I, 12-member conference that sponsors 23 championships and is one of ten members of the Football Bowl Subdivison (FBS). With total enrollment of nearly 300,000 students, the league represents institutions of higher learning in five (5) states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Ohio.

Current full member institutions and the year they joined are — East Division: University of Akron (1992), Bowling Green State University (1952), University at Buffalo (1998), Kent State University (1951), Miami University (1947), Ohio University (1946). West Division: Ball State University (1973), Central Michigan University (1971), Eastern Michigan University (1971), Northern Illinois University (1975-86, rejoined in 1997), University of Toledo (1950), Western Michigan University (1947). The conference office is based in Cleveland, Ohio.