Going to the Celebration Bowl — and not the NCAA playoffs — is now the top postseason goal of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football programs.

The inaugural Celebration Bowl, set for Dec. 19, will pit the MEAC champion against the kingpin from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

The made-for-TV event between the historically black Division I conferences will be televised by ABC, with a noon kickoff at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

In return, the MEAC is relinquishing its automatic qualifier status for the NCAA’s Football Championship Sub-Division tournament.

The SWAC long ago gave up its automatic qualifier because of a conflict with its lucrative Bayou Classic — Grambling vs. Southern — on Thanksgiving weekend at the New Orleans Superdome.

Along with prized national TV exposure, MEAC and SWAC will receive $1 million each as a Celebration Bowl payoff.

Revenue will be distributed to all conference institutions, with bowl game participants getting a larger slice of the pie.

“We are eagerly looking forward to participating in this wonderful opportunity to showcase our student-athletes, coaches, institutions and our conference on this national stage,” said MEAC Commissioner Duane Thomas.

MEAC had participated in the FCS playoffs, formerly called I-AA, most years since 1978. It has not always had an automatic qualifier.

Florida A&M University won the first FCS title in 1978, but no MEAC school has returned to the final since.

Overall, the MEAC is 6-28 in NCAA postseason play. Last year’s MEAC champion, Morgan State University, was a 46-24, first round loser at the University of Richmond.

MEAC schools are winless in the NCAAs since 1999.

Under former Coach Joe Taylor, who now serves as athletic director at Virginia Union University, Hampton University went to FCS playoffs in 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Each time, the Pirates were first round losers.

Norfolk State University has made the FCS playoffs just once, losing to crosstown rival Old Dominion University in 2011.      

Although the MEAC is giving up its automatic qualifier, a MEAC school still could be invited to the playoffs as an at-large entry, likely as a huge underdog on the road.

There were two previous efforts to match MEAC against SWAC teams in postseason bowls. The Pelican Bowl was held 1972, 1974 and 1975. The Heritage Bowl was 1991 to 1999.

In each case, it was a conference “representative,” and not necessarily the champion, that participated.

Also, there wasn’t nearly the TV exposure or financial incentive as to what is being offered by the Celebration Bowl.