INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee this week reviewed 32 applications and licensed 31 bowl games for the 2006-07 season.

Existing bowls that have been licensed for 2006-07 include: AutoZone Liberty, Capital One, Champs Sports, Chick-Fil-A, Emerald, Fed Ex Orange, Gaylord Hotels Music City, GMAC, Independence, Insight, Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas, MasterCard Alamo, Meineke Car Care, MPC Computers, Motor City, Allstate Sugar, Outback, Pacific Life Holiday, San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia, Fort Worth, Rose, AT&T Cotton, Hawaii, Tostitos Fiesta, Toyota Gator, Vitalis Sun and New Orleans.

The subcommittee heard initial-application presentations from representatives from Toronto, Canada, and representatives from ESPN Regional Television who have organized bowls in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Birmingham, Alabama.

There will be 4 newly licensed bowls for the upcoming postseason. The subcommittee licensed the organizers of the International Bowl in Toronto, Canada, the Birmingham Bowl, and the New Mexico Bowl. The subcommittee also licensed the fifth BCS bowl game, to be conducted in Glendale, Arizona which will host the BCS national championship.

At the request of the Big 12, Big East, Conference USA and Mountain West conferences, the subcommittee deferred the licensing decision on the Houston Bowl application until its June meeting. Notwithstanding the financial challenges, the conferences believe the bowl has the potential to be a viable postseason opportunity that will afford coaches, fans and student-athletes a positive bowl experience. The conferences believe the Houston area has sufficient assets, including a state-of-the-art stadium, to support the bowl going forward if the management of the bowl can be improved. The conferences are hopeful that there may be sufficient future revenues, less expenses, to pay the conferences the amounts, or portion of the amounts, owed from the 2005 game.

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 NCAA Division I Board of Directors decision today to allow teams with records of at least six wins and six losses to qualify for a bowl game increased the potential number of bowl opportunities and allowed for the licensing of additional bowls. There were 28 bowls last year.

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

As part of its meeting in Orlando, Florida, the subcommittee also reviewed bowl revenues and distributions from the 2005-06 postseason.

In reviewing the 2005-06 bowl season, the subcommittee noted that approximately $191.5 million in bowl revenue was distributed to participating teams and conferences, and about 1.4 million fans attended the bowl games. Approximately 5,300 student-athletes experienced the postseason football bowl games.