The Myrtle Beach Bowl has been added to ESPN’s roster of bowl games beginning in 2020, the network announced on Tuesday.
The bowl will features three conference partners: Conference USA, Mid-American Conference (MAC), and Sun Belt Conference. Each conference will participate in the bowl up to four times between 2020 and 2025.
“We are pleased to bring post season college football to the greater Myrtle Beach area and are thrilled to have representation from three of our conference partners; Conference USA, MAC and Sun Belt,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming and ESPN Events. “With the inaugural Myrtle Beach Basketball Invitational taking place this week, the addition of this bowl game brings yet another opportunity to showcase all that Myrtle Beach has to offer.”
The Myrtle Beach Bowl will be played at Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. Brooks Stadium currently has a seating capacity of 15,000, but Phase II of its renovation will expand capacity to over 20,000.
‘We are honored to be a part of history in establishing the first bowl game in the state of South Carolina,” said Matt Hogue, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at Coastal Carolina University. “The brand impact for our University from this game and the excitement of college football during the bowl season will be immeasurable and represents another example of how important sports tourism is to the promotion of our region.”
The inaugural Myrtle Beach Bowl will be played prior to Christmas in 2020, and future dates will be determined later. A sponsor will also be named later and Myrtle Beach will reportedly be part of the name.
With the addition of the Myrtle Beach Bowls and no other bowls being added or dropped, there will be 40 bowl games in 2020, not including the College Football National Championship. That means that 61.5% of the 130 FBS schools will play in a bowl came following the 2020 season.