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Atlanta gets new bowl game

North Carolina A&T, which takes part in Battle of the Bands at the Georgia Dome, is among the schools that could play in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.

Credit: Jonathan Phillips / Special to the AJC

Credit: Jonathan Phillips / Special to the AJC

North Carolina A&T, which takes part in Battle of the Bands at the Georgia Dome, is among the schools that could play in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.
By
March 18, 2015

Atlanta is getting a new college football bowl game: the Celebration Bowl.

Champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference — two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) leagues — will meet in a new postseason game beginning with the 2015 season.

The game will be played at the Georgia Dome in the 2015 and 2016 seasons and is expected to move into the new Falcons stadium thereafter.

The inaugural game is scheduled for Dec. 19.

The event will be nationally televised by ESPN on one of its networks.

Both the SWAC and MEAC play in college football’s FCS (formerly Division I-AA) level.

Football teams in the SWAC include: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, Prairie View A&M, Southern, and Texas Southern.

Teams in the MEAC include: Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Delaware State, Hampton, Howard, Morgan State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Norfolk State, Savannah State and South Carolina State.

Please check back for more on this story.

About the Author

Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.

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