ESPN Makes Plans for New Bowl in Boca Raton

ESPN Regional Television, a subsidiary of ESPN, announced the creation of the Boca Raton Bowl in a six-year agreement beginning in 2014. The pre-Christmas bowl game will be affiliated with the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference with each conference participating an expected four times during the six-year span.

The bowl game will be played at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla., on the campus of Florida Atlantic University and nationally televised on ESPN or ESPN2. The open-air stadium opened in 2011 and seats just under 30,000 fans.

The local sales of the bowl game will be handled by ESPN West Palm, which is the FAU radio broadcast partner.

Quotes

"We are pleased to be able to bring post season college football to the Boca Raton area and host institutions from the MAC, American and C-USA," said Pete Derzis, Senior Vice President & GM, ESPN Regional Television. The many amenities of this area will make this a wonderful experience for the participating teams, their fans and administrators."

"Our community is excited to serve as hosts for the Boca Raton Bowl," said Patrick Chun, director of athletics, Florida Atlantic University. "The national exposure associated with ESPN will be beneficial to our region, county, city and university on many levels. We are thankful to all of our local government officials and community leaders for making this game a reality. We look forward to building one of the best bowl experiences in college football."

"We are pleased to be a participant in the Boca Raton Bowl," said Mike Aresco, commissioner, American Athletic Conference. "We look forward to rewarding a deserving American Athletic Conference team with a berth in this quality postseason game. In partnering with this bowl and its outstanding management, we provide another wonderful opportunity for our student-athletes, our schools and our conference to gain national exposure in a destination that is both extremely attractive and accessible to our schools and their fans."

"I am excited this bowl will provide yet another exciting destination for our fans and student-athletes, said Britton Banowsky, commissioner, Conference USA. "When Pat Chun and I first discussed this idea more than a year ago, we thought it had great potential. It is satisfying to see how the community has come together to showcase their region and a stadium within view of the Atlantic Ocean. We are particularly appreciative of ESPN for providing the key leadership. We are confident this game will benefit those involved for many years to come."

"The Mid-American Conference is pleased to join with ESPN and several other conferences in the creation of the Boca Bowl," said Jon A. Steinbrecher, commissioner, Mid-American Conference. "This has all the ingredients for an excellent bowl game: great location, great facilities for student-athletes and fans, and hungry teams. I am eagerly anticipating the inaugural game in December of 2014."

"Our team at ESPN West Palm is thrilled and honored to be a part of the first Bowl game in Palm Beach County history," said Steve Politziner, Good Karma Broadcasting Vice president and ESPN West Palm general manager. "We look forward to doing our part to ensure a great experience for fans, and to provide a new marketing opportunity for the local business community."

ESPN Events

ESPN Events, a division of ESPN Regional Television (ERT), owns and operates a large portfolio of collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes two Labor Day weekend college football games; 11 college bowl games and eight college basketball events, which accounts for approximately 200 hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over a half a million attendees each year. With satellite offices in Boise, Birmingham, Dallas-Fort Worth, Albuquerque, St. Petersburg and Las Vegas, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

A subsidiary of ESPN, ERT is also the production headquarters for ESPNU; syndication rights-holder and producer of national and regional shows for college conferences (American, Big 12, Mid-American, SEC) and manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

Collegiate Football

AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Heart of Dallas Bowl Presented by PlainsCapital Bank (Dallas-Fort Worth); Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl; MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.); Texas Bowl (Houston); Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl (Honolulu) and The Home Depot College Football Awards

Collegiate Basketball

Armed Forces Classic (Camp Humphreys, South Korea); Charleston Classic (S.C.); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men's & Women's Basketball Classics presented by Corona Extra (Madison Square Garden & Durham, N.C.); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan, PR); State Farm Champions Classic (United Center, Chicago) and DIRECTV Wooden Legacy (Orange County, Calif.)

For more information, visit www.espnevents.com or follow on Twitter and Facebook.

About ESPN West Palm

ESPN West Palm, which is owned and operated by Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC (GKB), consists of ESPN 106.3 FM, ESPN Deportes 760, ESPNWestPalm.com and ESPN 106.3 on WPTV NewsChannel 5. ESPN West Palm provides compelling local and national content to sports fans in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, including Mike & Mike, Colin Cowherd, Evan Cohen, Josh Cohen and the Hometeam, the Super Bowl, March Madness, BCS College Football, specialty High School programming and is the flagship for FAU Football and Men's Basketball. In addition to its content, ESPN West Palm provides solutions to its marketing partners throughout the area, focusing on customized partnerships and multi-faceted marketing campaigns. For more information about ESPN West Palm and GKB, please visit: www.ESPNWestPalm.com and www.GKBSports.com.