For Immediate Release Tuesday, April 17, 2007

2007 Meineke Car Care Bowl Set for
Saturday, December 29 at 1:00 p.m.
Sixth-Annual Bowl Will Be Televised on ESPN

Charlotte, N.C. – The 2007 Meineke Car Care Bowl will take place on Saturday, December 29, 2007, with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff, televised nationally on ESPN, it was announced today by Raycom Sports, owner and operator of the game. The Meineke Car Care Bowl is played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

“We are excited to announce that the 2007 Meineke Car Care Bowl will be played on Saturday, December 29,” said Bowl Executive Director Will Webb. “The Meineke Car Care Bowl has built a tradition of tremendous success while being played the final Saturday of December, both with the game and the Uptown Street Festival & Pep Rally. We look forward to another great event in 2007.”

The 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl scored a 3.87 rating on ESPN for the matchup of #23-ranked Boston College and Navy. That translated into 3,564,446 households. The Meineke Car Care Bowl posted the 6th highest rating among non-BCS bowl games, and 11th highest rating overall among the 32 postseason games.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl rating eclipsed such established games as the Sun Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Independence Bowl and Champs Sports Bowl. The bowl’s highest rating prior to last year was in 2003, as Pittsburgh and Virginia drew 1.95 million households and a 2.2 cable rating.

The first college bowl game to call the Carolinas home, the Meineke Car Care Bowl drew 52,303 fans in 2006 and has averaged over 61,000 fans each year with two sellouts in its five years. In addition, the game has reached over 10 million television households. In 2003, it was named one of the five-best start-ups in sports over the past five years by the Sports Business Journal, behind only the NFL Houston Texans and ESPN the Magazine.

The inaugural game, played on December 28, 2002 before a sold-out stadium, saw Virginia defeat West Virginia, 48-22. On December 27, 2003, Virginia once again claimed victory, this time over Pittsburgh, 23-16. The third year again produced a sellout, as Boston College defeated North Carolina, 37-24, on December 30, 2004. Year four saw NC State defeat South Florida, 14-0, on December 31, 2005. And last year’s game saw a field goal as time expired give Boston College a 25-24 victory over Navy.

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