MAC Announces Six-Year Backup Bowl Agreement with Detroit based Quick Lane Bowl
10/21/2014 1:27:00 PM | Football
DETROIT, Mich. -- The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced Monday in conjunction with representatives from the Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit Lions and Ford Field that the MAC has secured a six-year (2014-2019) backup agreement with the newly-formed Quick Lane Bowl, owned and operated by the Detroit Lions and Ford Field.
The inaugural Quick Lane Bowl will be played on Sunday, Dec. 26 at 4:30 pm ET at Ford Field in Detroit in a nationally televised bowl game on ESPN. The game is slated to feature one member from each primary bowl partner--Big Ten Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Should either primary partner not fill their bowl agreement with the Quick Lane Bowl, the MAC will provide one bowl eligible member, if available, to participate in the bowl game.
The MAC has a long association with Detroit and Ford Field as the MAC has held its Marathon MAC Football Championship Game as a neutral site championship event at Ford Field since 2004. Â In fact this year's Marathon MAC Football Championship Game is Friday, Dec. 5th at 7 pm on ESPN2.
The MAC previously was a primary bowl partner with the Detroit based Motor City Bowl (1997-2008) and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (2009-2013) over a 17-year period. During this time the MAC had a 7-10 record in the Detroit bowl games, including wins over Louisville, BYU, Cincinnati and Northwestern.
This 2014 bowl season, the MAC has secured five primary bowl partners – GoDaddy Bowl (Mobile, Ala.); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise, Ida.); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Fla.) and the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl (Nassau, Bahamas).Â
In addition to the primary bowl partners, the MAC has now secured its third backup agreement for the 2014 bowl season with the Quick Lane Bowl. During the 2014 bowl season, the MAC will have a backup with the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (backup Navy); a backup with ESPN owned and operated bowl games (such as Gildan New Mexico Bowl; Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl; or Birmingham Bowl); and finally the backup agreement with the Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Mich.).
