Under the agreement, bowl bids would be extended to the five member conference champions plus five at-large teams. The at-large teams would come from a pool of four member conferences' runners-up (the SEC, Big Eight, SWC, ACC, and Big East), the runner-up of the Pac-10, the SEC's third-place team (since the SEC started playing a championship game in the 1992 season and the championship game loser was tied to the Citrus Bowl) and independent Notre Dame. The Orange, Sugar, Cotton, and Fiesta Bowls were "Tier 1 Bowls" under the Coalition agreement, and the Gator, John Hancock/Sun, and Blockbuster were "Tier 2 Bowls." The Orange, Sugar, and Cotton bowls retained their long-standing agreements to invite the Big 8, SEC, and SWC champs, respectively. However, the SEC, Big 8, and SWC champs would be released to play in another bowl if it was necessary to force a "title game." For example, if the SEC and SWC champions were ranked first and second, the Cotton Bowl would have released the SWC champ to play in the Sugar Bowl, or the Sugar Bowl would have released the SEC champ to play in the Cotton Bowl. This did not happen in any of the three years, as either the Big East or ACC champion qualified for the championship in those years.