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INDIANAPOLIS -- The San Francisco Bowl, Hawaii Bowl and Queen City Bowl received certification and 25 other bowl games were renewed for the 2002-03 season this week by the NCAA.

The NCAA's Football Certification Subcommittee made it official on Thursday.

Schools representing the Mountain West Conference and Big East Conference will compete in the San Francisco Bowl on Dec. 31 at Pacific Bell Park. In the Hawaii Bowl, representatives of Conference USA and the Western Athletic Conference will compete on Christmas Day at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The Queen City Bowl will be played on a date to be determined at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., pitting representatives of the Big East Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference against each other.

The Division I Board of Directors recently lifted a two-year moratorium on the maximum number of postseason bowls in Division I-A. The moratorium had established a temporary limit of 26 bowl games.

"We had several new bowl organizations that came to us very well prepared with conference and television commitments, as well as good facilities and support from their communities. We believe they will sponsor events that will be good experiences for student-athletes," said Tim Curley, athletics director at Pennsylvania State University and chair of the Football Certification Subcommittee. "The subcommittee also reviewed encouraging reports regarding the current postseason bowl structure. Specifically, approximately $155 million was distributed to participating teams and conferences, and 1.3 million fans attended bowl games last year."

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