Regions Bank returns as sponsor for 85th year of AP Top 25 football poll

The preseason AP Top 25 poll will be released on Monday, Aug. 16. The preseason AP All-America team, an extension of the longest-running honor roll of the nation’s top players, will be released on Monday, Aug. 23.

The first regular-season AP Top 25 poll will be released on Tuesday, Sept. 7 and subsequent regular-season polls will be released each Sunday until the end of the regular season, with the final poll moving hours after the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 10, 2022.

The preseason poll and preseason All-America team will be announced on AP lines at noon ET and  published on AP’s college football poll page and on the AP News app. The AP Sports report will also provide analysis and additional details.

Regions Bank will also sponsor AP’s full suite of postseason awards, including the AP All-America team, the AP Coach of the Year, and AP Player of the Year. The honors will be announced in December.

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. 

“The AP Top 25 Poll has long been a part of both college football history and the AP brand,” said Tom Januszewski, AP’s vice president of global business development. “We are excited to team up again with Regions Bank and appreciate their support of the AP college football poll.”

Regions Bank in 2019 became the first sponsor in the AP Top 25 poll’s long and storied history.

It will also present AP’s weekly Top 25 podcast hosted by AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo.

“Regions has been a sponsor of collegiate athletics for more than 25 years,” said Abbas Merchant, Regions Chief Marketing Officer. “As the Official Bank of the Southeastern Conference, Regions and our associates know firsthand the resilience of our communities and the students, student-athletes and fans that are a part of them. We’ve all been reminded this past year of the importance of community, tradition and being together and we’re proud to continue our support by bringing the AP Top 25 and more to fans this season.”

The sponsorship was secured in collaboration with Undertone, the leader in data-driven, intelligent high impact campaigns 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.

“We are honored to continue our partnership with Regions Bank and collaborate again for the second sponsorship of AP’s Top 25 football poll,” said Dan Aks, president of Undertone. “We’re very excited to be a part of the poll’s 85th year.”

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. 

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