It’s no surprise, but it’s still a relief: the Big East and the Meineke Car Care Bowl extended their partnership.
The new agreement will run from 2010-2013, and it will – as it has – give the bowl the third selection of a Big East team. The Big East has been affiliated with the Meineke Car Care since the game’s inception, in 2002, and its pairings with the ACC have produced average crowds of 62,000. Last year’s West Virginia-North Carolina match-up drew 73,712, a number behind only the BCS title game and the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls.
The game’s played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and this year’s will be Dec. 26 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.
So as it stands right now for the next bowl cycle, the Big East’s first-place team will go to the BCS. The Champs Sports Bowl will then get to choose a school, then the Meineke Car Care folks choose, then the new Yankee Bowl and then the St. Petersburg Bowl and the PapaJohns.com Bowl will divvy up the fifth and sixth choices.
Not amazing. But not bad either. And like I said last week, the Champs Sports is an upgrade over the Gator, which I suppose makes the overall line-up an improvement. What do you think?
Aditi Kinkhabwala has written a regular column for SI.com and been published in Sports Illustrated.