The NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee recently reviewed 30 applications and licensed 28 bowl games for the 2005-06 season.

Twenty-seven of the 28 are the following existing bowls: AutoZone Liberty, Capital One, Champs Sports, Chick-Fil-A Peach, Emerald, EV1.net Houston, Fed Ex Orange, Gaylord Hotels Music City, GMAC, Independence, Insight, Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas, MasterCard Alamo, Meineke Car Care, MPC Computers, Motor City, Nokia Sugar, Outback, Pacific Life Holiday, PlainsCapital Fort Worth, Rose, SBC Cotton, Sheraton Hawaii, Tostitos Fiesta, Toyota Gator, Vitalis Sun and Wyndham New Orleans.

The existing bowl not receiving a license was the Silicon Valley Football Classic, which did not meet criteria requiring an average attendance of 25,000 fans over a three-year period, or that the stadium be filled to at least 70 percent of capacity. The subcommittee has invited the bowl to submit an application for the 2006-07 season.

Subcommittee members also expressed concern about the attendance criteria to organizers of the Las Vegas and New Orleans Bowls, though both games were licensed.

One newly licensed bowl was granted to organizers of the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, which will conduct a second bowl for the 2005-06 season.

The 28-bowl total is the same as last year. The subcommittee based the total number of bowls on historical data regarding the number of teams that are typically bowl-eligible and the licensing criteria used each year to assess the qualifications of the bowl candidates.

The subcommittee also heard an initial-application presentation from representatives from Toronto, Canada.

Any bowls submitting applications for play in 2006-07 will receive notification for possible licensing at next year's subcommittee meeting.

Mark Womack, executive associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and chair of the subcommittee, said, "It is this subcommittee's goal to provide the best experience for student-athletes, coaches and staffs, and the fans and to support the long-term viability of the bowl system. After thorough review of the applications and the licensing criteria, we had to make some very difficult decisions, but we feel they are decisions made in the interests of a successful postseason in Division I-A."

As part of its meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, the subcommittee also reviewed bowl revenues and distributions from the 2004-05 postseason. About $186.4 million in bowl revenue was distributed to participating teams and conferences, and about 1.35 million fans attended the bowl games. About 5,300 student-athletes experienced the 28 postseason football bowl games.

Licensed postseason bowl games, 2005-06