For the first time, The Associated Press’ stack of marquee college football honors — including the AP Top 25 poll, the longest-running college football poll of its kind — will be sponsored by Regions Bank.
AP will release the preseason edition of the AP Top 25 poll, which enters its 84th year, on Monday, Aug. 19. The preseason AP All-America team, an extension of the longest-running honor roll of the nation’s top players, will be released on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Each will be announced on AP lines to customers at 12 p.m. ET and posted on AP’s college football poll page and the AP News app. AP will also provide analysis and additional details across the AP News platform.
“The preseason AP Top 25 always helps set the stage for another exciting college football season, and we’re pleased to have Regions Bank as a presenting sponsor for the first time in the poll’s long and storied history,” said Barry Bedlan, director of AP Sports products.
In addition to the AP Top 25 poll, Regions Bank will sponsor the full suite of postseason awards, including the AP All-America team, the AP Coach of the Year, and AP Player of the Year. The awards, along with the season’s AP All-America team, are announced in December after the regular season.
Regions Bank will also present AP’s weekly Top 25 podcast hosted by AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo.
“Regions is proud to sponsor the AP Top 25 poll and bring updates to college football fans,” said Michele Elrod, head of corporate marketing at Regions Bank. “At Regions, we pride ourselves on helping people focus on things that are bigger than banking. College football is very important to our customers, not just on game day, when cheering their team on to victory, but also as a way to connect with other fans all year long.”
The sponsorship was secured in collaboration with Undertone, a leader in cross-platform synchronized digital branding for the world’s most prominent brands.
Undertone will provide additional distribution of the branded sponsorship through its engaging, high-impact digital ad formats across hundreds of quality publisher sites and apps.
An expert panel of sports writers and broadcasters from AP-affiliated media around the country decide the AP Top 25, an ongoing tradition since 1936, and name the preseason All-America players for each position to first and second teams. The first AP All-America team was selected in 1925, a decade before the first Heisman Trophy.
A panel of more than 60 sports writers and broadcasters votes weekly throughout each season to decide the AP Top 25. All voters have an extensive background in covering college football. The poll is determined by a simple points system based on how each voter ranks college football’s best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. The rankings are set by listing the teams’ point totals from highest to lowest. The mathematical formula is the same as the one used for the AP Top 25 rankings for college men’s and women’s basketball.
Newspapers that subscribe to AP Sports will get paginated pages designed by the Adams Publishing Group’s Big Sky News Design team that highlight the preseason poll results for use in print, each with space available for local advertising or content.
Follow the poll and related sports coverage on Facebook and Twitter.
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Contact
Lauren Easton
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
leaston@ap.org
Patrick Maks
Senior Communications Associate
The Associated Press
212-621-7536
pmaks@ap.org
