List of college bowl games The following is a list of current , defunct , and proposed College football bowl games . Five bowl game s are currently part of the Bowl Championship Series , a selection system that creates five bowl match - ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision . There are also a number of other College football postseason invitationals , as well as several all - star game s . The number of bowl games ( now a staggering 35 , requiring 70 teams ) has increased to the point where often teams with losing records play in them . Also , essentially every one now is " sponsored " by a corporation for advertising purposes . The sponsor ' s name becomes part of the bowl ' s name , often resulting in very long , complicated names ; in many cases it becomes the only name ( the bowl ' s previous name being eliminated ) as with the Peach , Florida Citrus , Tangerine , Music City , Texas , Humanitarian and Hall of Fame Bowls . In other cases the sponsor ' s name is more obviously featured than the bowl ' s own . The classic example is the Fiesta Bowl logo ; " Tostitos " is in clearly - readable black against a white background , currently double the size of " Fiesta Bowl " which is in black - bordered dark red in a hard - to - read font against a dark background and has been progressively shrinking relative to the sponsor ' s name — especially in the logo painted on the field . Bowl Championship Series games . From the 1998 season until the 2005 season , four BCS bowl game s determined the national champion on a rotating basis . The other three games consisted of the champions of the 6 major conferences not playing in the championship game , as well as two at - large teams . A change implemented before the beginning of the 2006 season allowed for the creation of a fifth BCS bowl , the BCS National Championship Game . The BCS National Championship Game is now played at the site of each of the four BCS bowls , but is played as a separate game one week after the regular BCS game . For example , in January 2007 , Glendale hosted first the Fiesta Bowl , then the BCS National Championship Game a week later . The sponsor of the host game also sponsors the BCS National Championship Game ( e . g . , Tostitos will sponsor the game when in Glendale , Allstate will sponsor the game when in New Orleans , and so on ) . Other current bowl games . Besides BCS games , there are a number of other postseason invitationals . Generally , two conferences will agree to send teams of a particular standing to a game beforehand . For instance , the Rose Bowl traditionally features the Big Ten and Pac - 12 conference champions . Generally , the payout to the participating teams in a Bowl Game is closely correlated to its prestige . For comparison , each of the BCS bowls ( including the National Championship ) has a payout of $ 18 million . Future ( proposed ) games . Both of these proposed games were turned down by the NCAA for 2010 . There are currently 35 licensed college bowls , which just about maxes out the possible eligible teams ( the four - year average of bowl - eligible squads is 71 . 8 ) . If one of the current games folds or loses its certification , however , the Cure or LA Christmas Bowls could step in . The BCS has recently begun discussion of a four team play off model . Teams in the past have been left out of the Championship game causing some backlash toward the BCS . The BCS has also stated that it wishes to remove AQ conferences from its bowl games starting with the 2014 season . Over that past couple of years there have been some incidents in which AQ teams surpassed more worthy teams for bowl spots . Soup Bowl - Greensboro , North Carolina , Started in1994 between cross town rivals Greensboro College and Guilford College NAIA bowl games . " There is a large list of bowl games for NAIA available at - - You can help Wikipedia by expanding this section . "