For a typical college football season, bowl game matchups are announced on the Sunday after the conference championship games, usually in early December.

Key timing

  • Bowl matchups, including the major bowls and College Football Playoff pairings, are revealed on “Selection Sunday” in early December after all conference title games finish.
  • For example, for the 2024–25 bowl season, organizers specified that bowl matchups would be revealed on Sunday, December 8, right after the regular season and conference championships.

How the announcements work

  • The College Football Playoff Selection Show airs that Sunday, typically in a midday TV window on ESPN, unveiling the playoff field and then the rest of the major bowls.
  • Once the CFP and New Year’s Six slots are set, the remaining bowl games quickly fill in their matchups based on conference tie-ins and final rankings, and full schedules are posted on official bowl and NCAA sites.

What to search or watch for

  • Fans can look for “College Football Playoff Selection Show” listings and bowl schedule pages from Bowl Season, the NCAA, and networks like ESPN in early December to see the latest matchups.
  • Sports schedule sites such as FBSchedules and official bowl organization pages also update with complete date, time, and TV information once the announcements are made.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.