Military Bowl

The Military Bowl (fully named Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman, previously known as the EagleBank Bowl and known in planning stages as the Congressional Bowl) is an annual NCAA Division I FBS college football bowl game played since 2008. The game was held at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., through its 2012 edition, after which it was moved to Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland beginning with the 2013 edition.^[1]

The bowl game previously featured a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and either a team from Conference USA (C-USA) or one of the service academies. In the 2013 season, the game was one of C-USA's official bowl tie-ins.^[1] However, the 2014-19 games will feature eligible teams from the American Athletic Conference ^[2] and ACC.^[3] The Military Bowl is one of the two FBS bowls held in the Northeast, the other being the Pinstripe Bowl.

The game was originally sponsored by Washington-area financial institution EagleBank. After Northrop Grumman, one of the world's leading defense contractors, became its sponsor in 2010, it was renamed the Military Bowl.^[4]

Origins

The idea for the EagleBank Bowl originated with the Washington, D.C. Bowl Committee, a group founded by Marie Rudolph and Sean Metcalf in December 2006 with the intended purpose of bringing a bowl game to the Washington, D.C. area as a boon to the region's economy.^[5] The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission and the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation announced their support of the proposed event in 2007.^[5]

History

The bowl game was one of two approved by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the other being the St. Petersburg Bowl) for the 2008 college football bowl season. The NCAA's Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee approved the bowl on April 30, 2008, allowing the committee that had proposed the game to host it after the 2008 college football season.^[6] The game, which was originally dubbed "The Congressional Bowl" before sponsorship was received by EagleBank, was televised by ESPN, with kickoff scheduled for 11 AM US EST, making it officially the first bowl game of the 2008–09 postseason. Terry Gannon and David Norrie announced the inaugural game.

Prior to the game's approval by the NCAA, Navy^[7] and the Atlantic Coast Conference^[8] signed agreements to participate in the game if it was approved. Under the agreement, the ACC would provide its ninth-best team for the bowl if the league had nine bowl eligible (records of 6–6 or better) teams.^[9] The initial EagleBank Bowl game was a battle between Navy and Wake Forest University. The two teams had played earlier in the season and Navy was victorious 24–17. In the bowl game rematch, however, Wake Forest won 29–19.

In 2009 along with its ACC tie-in, the Bowl signed an agreement with Army to play in the 2009 edition of the game if the Black Knights were bowl eligible. Army entered its final game with Navy requiring a win to gain bowl eligibility. However, since Navy defeated Army, Army missed out on bowl eligibility. The ACC did not have enough eligible teams and Conference USA could not provide a team, so the EagleBank Bowl chose Mid-American Conference team Temple to fill one spot and chose Pac-10 conference team UCLA to fill the other slot as an at-large. UCLA defeated Temple 30-21.

For the 2010 edition of the game, the bowl announced that it had signed an agreement with Conference USA for it to provide a team to the bowl along with its current agreement with the ACC. The bowl game will have its standard eighth selection from ACC teams and will most likely have the sixth selection of C-USA teams. The bowl also announced that the NCAA had granted the EagleBank Bowl a four-year extension of its Bowl Certification taking it through the 2013-14 football bowl season.^[10]

On October 26, 2010, the bowl was renamed the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman.^[11] In 2010 the game generated in excess of $18 million for the Washington, D.C. area. Also, over $100,000 was donated to the USO.

Future matchups

2014-2019: ACC vs. AAC

Game results

MVPs

Most appearances

Conference record

See also

• List of college bowl games
• Sports in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EagleBank Bowl.

• Official website