What's future of AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis as contracts expire?

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AutoZone Liberty Bowl officials plan to meet with five FBS conferences about future participation in the game, executive director Steve Ehrhart told The Commercial Appeal on Jan. 2.

Bowl game contracts are up after this cycle as the SEC and Big Ten mull changes to the College Football Playoff format for 2026. ESPN agreed to extend an initial December deadline to Jan. 23 to decide the format for 2026, and that Jan. 23 date will not be extended.

The bowl games have essentially been in a holding pattern as that process drags out because those contracts are up as well. The Liberty Bowl has had affiliations with the SEC and Big 12, while the American can fill one of the slots if the SEC does not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all its bowl slots. That was the case for the game on Jan. 2, when Navy beat Cincinnati 35-13 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

Ehrhart said he plans to have conversations with the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC and American. He talked with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips at the Army-Navy game in December and said Phillips expressed interest in an agreement between the ACC and the Liberty Bowl.

“We’ll have conversations with five conferences,” Ehrhart said. “And I’m sure there’s going to be some changes in the bowls.”

There’s been plenty of national discussion about the future of bowl games, especially as the playoff expands and more and more players opt-out of bowl games to enter the transfer portal or prepare for the NFL draft. Cincinnati played the Liberty Bowl without its starting quarterback and top two running backs, and that led to an uncompetitive game.

After the game, Ehrhart echoed a talking point that’s become more and more prevalent over the past few months: The need for college sports to move toward a collective bargaining model to address many of the issues that increasingly appear to be unsolvable under the current structure.

Still, Ehrhart thinks the Liberty Bowl is positioned better than many other bowl games. Among the reasons:

  • A consistent, long-term title partner in AutoZone
  • A long list of other partners (150 of them, Ehrhart said)
  • Legacy and history (the Jan. 2 game was the 67th edition of the Liberty Bowl)
  • A renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
  • Impact on tourism in Memphis

“I’m very positive and optimistic about the future,” Ehrhart said. “There will be some changes. But I think we have those ingredients, a lot of other bowls don’t.”

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What’s future of AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis as contracts end?

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