The annual Celebration Bowl, now in its 10th year, will officially kick off bowl season again.
The HBCU national championship game between MEAC and SWAC champions will be played at noon EST on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on ABC, according to ESPN.
The event will headline 17 bowl games to be televised on the ESPN family of networks through Jan. 2.
Before last season’s Celebration Bowl, the date was moved from the third Saturday to the second weekend.
Though SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland believed the change created a disadvantage for the conference champion, it was a move referred to as “a game-changer” by Celebration Bowl executive director John T. Grant.
“By aligning with the start of the college football bowl season and avoiding the expansion games of the college football playoffs and NFL, the Celebration Bowl has carved its own niche in the bowl season calendar.”
Here is the complete ESPN bowl schedule:
| Date | Time (ET) | Matchup | Network |
| Sat, Dec. 13 | Noon | Cricket Celebration Bowl Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Ga.) |
ABC |
| Tue, Dec. 16 | 9 p.m. | IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl Cramton Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.) |
ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 17 | 5 p.m. | StaffDNA Cure Bowl Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Fla.) |
ESPN |
| Fri, Dec. 19 | Noon | Myrtle Beach Bowl Brooks Stadium (Conway, S.C.) |
ESPN |
| 3:30 p.m. | Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.) |
ESPN | |
| Mon, Dec. 22 | 2 p.m. | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Albertsons Stadium (Boise, Idaho) |
ESPN |
| Tue, Dec. 23 | 2 p.m. | Boca Raton Bowl Flagler Credit Union Stadium (Boca Raton, Fla.) |
ESPN |
| 9 p.m. | Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas) |
ESPN | |
| Wed, Dec. 24 | 8 or 9 p.m. | Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Honolulu, Hawaii) |
ESPN |
| Fri, Dec. 26 | 8 p.m. | SERVPRO First Responder Bowl Gerald J. Ford Stadium (Dallas, Texas) |
ESPN |
| Sat, Dec. 27 | 2:15 p.m. | Wasabi Fenway Bowl Fenway Park (Boston, Mass.) |
ESPN |
| 5:45 p.m. | Isleta New Mexico Bowl University Stadium (Albuquerque, N.M.) |
ESPN | |
| 9:15 p.m. | Kinder’s Texas Bowl NRG Stadium (Houston, Texas) |
ESPN | |
| Mon, Dec. 29 | 2 p.m. | Birmingham Bowl Protective Stadium (Birmingham, Ala.) |
ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 31 | 3:30 p.m. | SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas, Nev.) |
ESPN |
| Fri, Jan. 2 | 1 p.m. | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Amon G. Carter Stadium (Fort Worth, Texas) |
ESPN |
