ESPN Releases 35-Game College Football Bowl Season Schedule for 2020-21

ESPN will televise a 35-game college football bowl season schedule in 2020-21, continuing its long-standing commitment to the sport.

Former UK star Josh Allen with ESPN's Cole Cubelic at Kroger Field in 2019 (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

The schedule features 13 ESPN Events owned and operated games, the College Football Playoff Semifinals (Friday, Jan. 1) and the entire New Year’s Six, culminating with the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T (Monday, Jan. 11) from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Capital One Bowl Mania kicks off the bowl season on Saturday, Dec. 19 with ESPN Events’ Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl from Frisco, Texas at 7 p.m. ET.

ESPN’s lineup includes the new Montgomery Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 23 (7 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2), in addition to Camellia Bowl, also in Montgomery, Ala., which will be played on Friday, Dec. 25.

The busiest day of ESPN’s bowl campaign will be Saturday, Dec. 26, when six games are scheduled across ESPN and ABC beginning at noon with the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa and the Cure Bowl in Orlando.

ESPN continues to be the industry’s home to college football’s postseason, airing 35 of the 37 bowl games that are scheduled to be played during the newly rebranded Bowl Season.

This season’s College Football Playoff Semifinals will return to its traditional New Year’s Day date on ESPN. The Rose Bowl Game (5 p.m.) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (8:45 p.m.) will host this year’s CFP Semifinals, while the New Year’s Six’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (12:30 p.m., ESPN) is also scheduled for Jan. 1.

The New Year’s Six also features the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 30 (7:15 p.m.) and a pair of games on Saturday, Jan. 2 – the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (4 p.m.) followed by the Capital One Orange Bowl (8 p.m.), all on ESPN.

The NCAA Division I Council has recently waived bowl eligibility requirements for the 2020-21 bowl season only. So every FBS school is eligible to play in a bowl game this season. 

ESPN’s 2020-21 Bowl Season Schedule

All times Eastern. Subject to change. ** ESPN Events bowl games

Note: A decision regarding the Las Vegas Bowl will be announced in the near future.