ACC Replaces Big East for Bowl in Yankee Stadium

(AP) ACC stakes a claim to NYC with Pinstripe Bowl
By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
NEW YORK
The Atlantic Coast Conference is staking a claim to New York City by adding the Pinstripe Bowl to its postseason lineup.

The conference and the Yankee Stadium bowl game have agreed to a six-year deal that starts in 2014. Commissioner John Swofford was in the Bronx on Tuesday for a news conference with Yankees officials.

The ACC is expanding north, adding Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame this season. The Fighting Irish will remain a football independent, but will play five games per season against ACC teams. Louisville will join in 2014.

Swofford re-iterated that the conference is discussing playing its men’s basketball tournament in the New York area in the future, but that it hasn’t gone past that point.

The Pinstripe Bowl announced a deal with the Big Ten earlier this month that also starts in 2014, though it runs for eight years.

This year’s Pinstripe Bowl, sponsored by New Era, will be the fourth and final under its original agreement with the Big East (which becomes the American Athletic Conference next season) and the Big 12.

The American had hoped to remain a part of the bowl it helped get off the ground, but with the turnover in the conference due to realignment, the league lost its geographic appeal to bowl organizers.

And with the ACC and Big Ten expanding into the Northeast, it gave the Pinstripe Bowl a chance to upgrade.

Yankees President Randy Levine said the team might even consider bidding to host a College Football Playoff game in the future.

Swofford said the ACC will not have a fixed selection system for its postseason lineup, the rest of which has yet to be announced.

He said the conference will use a tiered system for setting up its bowl matchups that league and bowl officials hope will create more flexibility and prevent teams from making multiple appearances in the same postseason games in a short period of time.

ESPN.com reported earlier this week that the Pinstripe Bowl will share the ACC’s third through sixth selections with the Belk and Sun bowls, along with the Gator and Music City bowls, which will rotate between Big Ten and ACC teams.