The St. Petersburg Bowl is officially part of college football's bowl lineup.

The new bowl -- to debut at Tropicana Field between Dec. 20-23 this season -- was approved by an NCAA subcommittee Wednesday afternoon in South Florida and will pit teams from the Big East and Conference USA. ESPN will own and operate the game, as it does with five other current bowls.

"The presentation went very well and was well-received by the committee," said Pete Derzis, general manager and senior vice president for ESPN Regional. "St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker was part of our delegation here, as was D.T. Minich from the St. Petersburg/Clearwater (Convention and Visitors Bureau) and Rob Higgins (from Tampa Bay Sports Commission). They all made tremendous contributions to help make this happen."

An important new wrinkle on the Big East side of this: Starting in 2008, the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., which had a tie-in with Conference USA, will now feature a Southeastern Conference team against a Big East representative, a significant upgrade. It also will move from a pre-Christmas slot to Dec. 29, a date that reflects the bowl's greater relevance.

The St. Petersburg Bowl joins a lineup of 32 bowls returning from last season; the NCAA also approved a "Congressional Bowl" in Washington, D.C., which will feature Navy and an ACC opponent. A proposed "Rocky Mountain Bowl" in Salt Lake City was not approved. Last year there were seven NCAA teams that were bowl eligible but didn't have a bowl to play in, and organizers feel the location and conference affiliations can make this bowl a viable and successful event.

Fans interested in signing up on a list for tickets for this year's game (at $30 each) can call (800) 325-2910.