• by Wayne Friedman , September 22, 2014

A multiyear deal with ESPN will give Capital One title sponsorship of the Orange Bowl.

After a four-year deal with Discover Financial ending this year -- the game is officially known as Discover Orange Bowl -- Discover said it would not renew sponsorship of the game in June.  Before that, the game had been called the FedEx Orange Bowl from 1989 to 2010.

Tostitos has also said it was ending its long sponsorship affiliation with the Fiesta Bowl.  
The Capital One Orange Bowl is to be played on Dec. 31 in South Florida. Next year, that bowl game will host to a new college playoff to start this year -- the College Football Playoff Semifinal (New Year's Eve 2015) and again in year five (2018).

Reports suggest ESPN was looking for a substantial increase in six-year rights fee deals for bowl title sponsorships -- up $5 million to $10 million to nearly $25 million.

The College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy is sponsored by Dr Pepper, which reportedly paid an estimated $35 million for the sponsorship rights through 2020.

ESPN will have exclusive coverage beginning with the 2014-2015 season and will feature the four top teams as ranked by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

The Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Allstate Sugar Bowl will host the first playoff semifinals. The winners of those two games will face off in the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on January 12, 2015.

Capital One had been the sponsor of the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Florida Citrus Bowl) in 2001.