 During the 1997 college football season, the Gator Bowl selection committee held contracts with both the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conferences.In exchange for guaranteeing to pay a total of $3.2 million to the participating teams, the committee held the right to the second pick of bowl-eligible teams from each conference.Each conference's champion was awarded an automatic spot in a Bowl Alliance game, and it was expected that the Gator Bowl would select each conference's second-place team unless other circumstances arose.