13TH ANNUAL ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS TEXAS BOWL SET FOR PRIME TIME ON DECEMBER 27

May 2, 2018 Press Release

13TH ANNUAL ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS TEXAS BOWL SET FOR PRIME TIME ON DECEMBER 27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

HOUSTON – The 2018 Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl will be played on Thursday, Dec. 27, at 8 p.m. CT from NRG Stadium in Houston. The game will air on ESPN and ESPN Radio, with a local radio broadcast on SportsRadio 610 (KILT-AM). The 13^th edition of the event will once again feature a matchup of Big 12 and SEC schools as it has since 2014.

The Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl is the fourth most attended Bowl game in the country and most attended non-New Year’s Six game since 2014, trailing only the Rose, Cotton and Peach Bowls. The Texas Bowl and its sister event, the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff, have grown to become two of the most popular annual college football games in the country, combining to create an economic impact of close to $100 million annually for the city of Houston while raising nearly $1.4 million in financial support and millions more in promotional support to DePelchin Children’s Center, Houston’s oldest children’s charity and the bowl’s official charitable beneficiary.

In the first year with new title sponsor Academy Spots + Outdoors in 2017, the Texas Bowl featured the Texas Longhorns and the Missouri Tigers, the fourth year of the bowl’s affiliation with the Big 12 and the SEC. En route to beating the Tigers 33-16, the Longhorns tied an Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl record by scoring 14 points in the first quarter of the matchup.

The Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl is one of 14 bowl games owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, and managed locally by Lone Star Sports & Entertainment. For more on the event including ticket information, visit http://www.academytexasbowl.com/.

About the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl
The Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl is owned and operated by ESPN Events, a subsidiary of ESPN, and managed locally by Lone Star Sports & Entertainment. The Texas Bowl showcases teams from the Big 12 and the SEC, two of the country’s premier conferences. The Texas Bowl has been a tremendous success both on and off the field over its first 12 years as it is the fourth most-attended bowl in the country since 2014. The bowl generates nearly $50 million annually for the Houston economy and has donated nearly $1.4 million in financial support and millions more in promotional support to DePelchin Children’s Center, the bowl’s official charitable beneficiary.

ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 12 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

Collegiate Football
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston); AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Frisco Bowl (Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Atlanta); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan (Atlanta) and Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)