SAN FRANCISCO -- With an emphasis on destination diversity and expanding West Coast markets, the Big Ten and Pac-12 are strengthening their traditional ties with a pair of matchups in California bowl games.

The Holiday Bowl in San Diego and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in the San Francisco Bay Area announced six-year agreements Monday for teams from each conference to play each other starting in 2014.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the new configuration will also help avoid repeat matchups and teams returning to the same region frequently.

While the Pac-12 has a slotted selection order, Scott said the conference has "mechanisms" in place to allow for flexibility. Delany said the Big Ten is not locking in a selection order with its bowl partners but will have three tiers of bowl games where teams can be placed depending on their regular-season records.

"We're working with the bowls to create what I would describe as a process for selection and approval by each bowl subject to a series of parameters," Delany said. "We're going to really want different teams in different bowls."

Delany and other Big Ten officials had talked openly about playing more postseason games in California, a major recruiting ground and television market. The Big 12 also plans to give its bowl lineup a more southern flavor by adding games in Florida and Tennessee in the coming weeks.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

More From KSOO-AM / ESPN Sioux Falls