The Sun Belt Conference is finally going to stage a football championship game.
It won't be until 2018, the site is still unknown and the league does not yet have a television contract for the game, but Commissioner Karl Benson announced in a Wednesday teleconference that the Sun Belt will be the last of 10 FBS conferences to hold the game.
The decision was made by a unanimous vote of league presidents and chancellors Monday night in an Atlanta hotel room, Benson said, and the announcement was made Wednesday in an effort to mark the game to potential networks.
"We want this and expect the inaugural game in 2018 will truly be a showcase type of an event," Benson said. "We're going to invest in this and make sure this is really a great experience for student-athletes and also a national showcase for Sun Belt football."
The route to the title game, which was first announced as a desire when Benson was hired in 2012, will be decided this fall, Benson said. The Sun Belt will be a 10-team league in 2018, so it could play a full round-robin schedule and take the teams with two best records or split into two five-team divisions and take each division winner.
Benson said the league decided against holding the game in 2017 because Coastal Carolina, which joins the league in football in 2017 and all other sports in 2016, will be eligible for the postseason.
"The fall of 2018 is the new era, so to speak, of Sun Belt football," Benson said.
A television contract has not yet been secured, but Benson said ESPN, which owns the league's regular-season television rights, will get the first chance to air it on one of its networks. FS1, CBS Sports Network and the American Sports Network will each be considered.
The specific date of the game will be determine by the TV contract, which Benson said he is confident in securing.
"Absolutely, we will have a strong television partner," he said.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.