Amidst a shifting college football landscape, officials with San Antonio’s Valero Alamo Bowl announced the 2026 game will draw from the same group of college football teams it did last year.
The Valero Alamo Bowl has maintained its connections with the Pac-12 and Big-12 conferences for more than a decade. But as teams switch conferences and the college football postseason changes, those ties could change too.
What will the Alamo Bowl look like in the future? The short answer: Organizers plan to draw from the most possible teams to ensure the biggest possible match-ups.
The Alamo Bowl has drawn fans to the Alamodome from across the West and Midwest United States every December. That recipe was shaken up when the Pac-12 lost a majority of its long-time members to other conferences in 2022 and 2023.
The Alamo Bowl announced it would continue to invite those legacy Pac-12 schools through last year, when its deal with the conference was set to expire. That meant schools like Colorado and USC, which are previous Pac-12 members, have traveled to San Antonio during the last two seasons.
That two-year deal will be around for at least one more season.
That’s because Alamo Bowl officials need to know what the College Football Playoff will look like in future years, they said.
The NCAA sport’s leaders are debating expanding the postseason from the current 12-team format after 2026. The playoff structure determines which teams vie for the national championship, as well as other bowls, to determine their national rankings.
As a non-CFP game, the Alamo Bowl hosts teams that are not in contention for a national championship.
“Bowls and conferences need clarity on the College Football Playoff structure for 2027 and beyond because it determines how many teams are available for non-CFP bowl games,” said Derrick Fox, Alamo Bowl president and CEO.
A profitable bowl
When there is more clarity on college football’s postseason, Fox said the Alamo Bowl plans to prioritize the highest-profile matchups in its next deal to maximize attendance and television viewership — key ways the bowl makes money. Fox said he looks for teams that will generate national attention.
To do that, Fox said, there needs to be a large number of teams to choose from.
“We focus on creating the most compelling and competitive matchup possible each year, with the flexibility to draw from a broad pool of teams and adapt as the college football landscape evolves,” he said.
The Alamo Bowl captured that in 2024, when Brigham Young University vs. Colorado had 8 million television viewers, an Alamo Bowl record. That game created a $59 million economic impact, according to a study, the second highest one-year impact in the game’s history.
Last year’s edition of the bowl game generated 4.9 million television viewers, a 39% drop.
While the Alamo Bowl has nailed down its pool of teams for 2026, it still needs to secure a sponsor and television partner. Valero and ESPN held those roles, respectively, in past years, Fox said in an email,and they’re working on those contracts now.
“We are in ongoing discussions with ESPN and Valero regarding extensions for the 2026 season and beyond. Both have been partners of the bowl since our inception in 1993, and there is strong mutual interest in continuing those relationships,” he said.
