The NCAA has halted the addition of new college football bowl games for three years, ESPN reported today.
That means there will be 41 FBS bowl games for the next three postseasons, including the College Football Playoff National Championship. There were almost 44 bowl games, as Austin, Texas, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina were all seeking to add bowls.
The AutoNation Cure Bowl and the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl were added to the mix in 2015. Due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams, the Arizona Bowl was stuck with two Mountain West teams facing off.
In addition, organizers from Little Rock, Arkansas were also attempting to add a bowl game in recent years that would have matched up teams from the American and Sun Belt.
Last bowl season, 80 teams played in the postseason and three teams with losing records earned bowl berths. That number could have grown higher this season with the addition of three games.
The 2016-17 Bowl Schedule has not been officially announced yet, but it appears that it will kick off on Saturday, Dec. 17. The full schedule should be finalized later this month.