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

Existing bowls that have been licensed for 2005-06 include: 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.

One existing bowl not receiving a license to conduct a bowl for the 2005-06 season was the Silicon Valley Football Classic. The subcommittee has invited the bowl to submit an application for the 2006-07 season.

There will be one newly licensed bowl for the upcoming postseason. The subcommittee licensed the organizers of the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl to conduct a second bowl for the 2005-06 season.

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

One of the licensing criteria requires bowls to maintain an average attendance of 25,000 or 70 percent of stadium capacity over a three-year period. Although the subcommittee noted improvement in attendance for the Las Vegas and New Orleans Bowls, both bowls were licensed with continued concern regarding the required attendance criteria.

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. There also were 28 bowls last year.

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

Mark Womack, executive associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and chair of the NCAA Postseason Football Licensing 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.

In reviewing the 2004-05 bowl season, the subcommittee said that approximately $186.4 million in bowl revenue was distributed to participating teams and conferences, and about 1.35 million fans attended the bowl games. Approximately 5,300 student-athletes experienced the postseason football bowl games.