ESPN Regional Television Announces Launch of Official Web Site for New St. Petersburg Bowl

Editor’s note: Television schedule for Dec. 20 has changed. Please note new game time. All times are subject to change.

ESPN Regional Television, Inc., a subsidiary of ESPN, announced today the launch of StPetersburgBowl.com, the official Web site for the newly established St. Petersburg Bowl college football postseason game.

The 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl will be televised nationally Saturday, Dec. 20, at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, live from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Along with details about the inaugural game, which will feature a team from the BIG EAST Conference and one from Conference USA, fans and media can access the Web site for breakdowns of teams within the two conferences or to find out more about things to do in the great Sunshine State destination of St. Petersburg.

“The St. Petersburg Bowl has been met with great excitement within the community and our Web site is just one more way for us to serve it,” said Chris Turner, Senior Director of Conference Programming, ERT. “In addition, it is a way for fans of both the Big East and C-USA institutions to learn more about the game and what a wonderful destination St. Petersburg is.”

The new official Web site includes fan polls, news links and opportunities to blog, as well as shopping links for BIG EAST, C-USA and ESPN. Fans and media can also access the site at game time for stats, recaps, box scores and more up-to-the-minute information on the event.

The St. Petersburg Bowl is an NCAA-certified college football game owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television (ERT). The new bowl game was approved by the NCAA in April. ERT markets and owns five other bowl games — the PapaJohns.com Bowl, Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and New Mexico Bowl.

Tickets to the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl are expected to go on sale later this summer. For more information, call 1-800-325-2910 or visit the official Web site, StPetersburgBowl.com.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership

The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the St. Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit www.espnplus.com.

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