Camping World Bowl

Camping World Bowl formerly Russell Athletic Bowl
Stadium	Camping World Stadium
Location	Orlando, Florida
Previous stadiums	Joe Robbie Stadium (1990–2000)
Previous locations	Miami Gardens, Florida (1990–2000)
Operated	1990–present
Conference tie-ins	ACC, Big 12
Previous conference tie-ins	B1G, Big East
Payout	US$2,275,000 (As of 2015)[1]
Sponsors
Blockbuster (1990–1993) Carquest (1994–1997) MicronPC (1998–2000) Florida Tourism (2001) Mazda (2002–2003) Champs Sports (2004–2011) Russell Athletic (2012–2016) Camping World (2017-present)
Former names
Sunshine Classic (1990, working title) Blockbuster Bowl (1990–1993) Carquest Bowl (1994–1997) MicronPC Bowl (1998) MicronPC.com Bowl (1999–2000) Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl (2001) Mazda Tangerine Bowl (2002–2003) Champs Sports Bowl (2004–2011) Russell Athletic Bowl (2012-2016)
2016 matchup
Miami vs. West Virginia (Miami 31–14)
2017 matchup
TBD[2] (December 28, 2017)

The Camping World Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Citrus Bowl and Florida Classic.

The bowl was founded in 1990 by Raycom^[3] and was originally played at Joe Robbie Stadium outside of the city of Miami. It was formed under the name Sunshine Football Classic, but due to corporate title sponsorships, was never actually contested under this name, nor even referred to as such except during brief intervals between corporate sponsors. During its Miami existence, it successively went by the names Blockbuster Bowl, CarQuest Bowl, and the MicronPC Bowl.

In 2001, the bowl changed hands, and was relocated to Orlando. The bowl briefly became known as the Tangerine Bowl, a historic moniker, which was the original title of the game now known as the Citrus Bowl. Foot Locker, the parent company of Champs Sports, purchased naming rights in 2004, naming it the Champs Sports Bowl. In early 2012, naming rights were agreed to by Russell Athletic for games through 2017.^[4] In early 2017, Camping World signed an agreement with Florida Citrus Sports to be the new title sponsor of the game through 2020.^[5]

The game currently has tie-ins with the ACC and Big 12.

History

Miami

What is now the Camping World Bowl was sprung from a desire to hold a second bowl game in the Miami area. It would be an accompaniment to the long-established and well-known Orange Bowl, and would showcase the brand new stadium in the area that was built in 1987. The Orange Bowl game was still being played in the aging old stadium, whereas this new game would be played in the new stadium.

Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga quickly joined forces with bowl organizers and brought in Blockbuster Video, which he owned at the time, as title sponsor.^[3] The inaugural game, played on December 28, 1990, pitted Florida State and Penn State, and two legendary coaches, Bobby Bowden versus Joe Paterno in front of over 74,000 at Joe Robbie Stadium.^[3] Subsequent games, however, never matched the success of the first, even though the bowl was moved to the more prestigious New Year's Day slot starting in 1993.

In 1994, CarQuest Auto Parts became the title sponsor after Huizenga sold Blockbuster Video to Viacom. The New Year's Day experiment was short lived as the organizers of the more established Orange Bowl received permission to move their game into Joe Robbie Stadium beginning in 1996.^[3] That bumped the Carquest Bowl back to the less-desirable December date. After the 2000 playing, Florida Citrus Sports took over the game and moved it to Orlando.

Before gaining Blockbuster Entertainment as the corporate sponsor for the inaugural event, the game was tentatively referred to as the Sunshine Classic.^[3]

Orlando

From 2006–2010, the bowl matched teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Under the terms of a television deal signed with ESPN in 2006, the bowl was to be held after Christmas Day from 2006 onward, and be shown on ESPN in prime time. The change was made to move the game from the less-desirable pre-Christmas date utilized from 2001–2004.

From 2005–2009, the stadium faced challenges in preparing the stadium for two bowl games in less than one week (the Citrus Bowl is traditionally held New Year's Day). This was also in part due to the Florida high school football championship games being held at the stadium shortly before the bowls. In 2009, rainy weather turned the stadium's grass field into a muddly, sloppy, quagmire for both bowl games. In 2010, the stadium switched to artificial turf, facilitating the quick turnaround necessary.

In 2009, the Champs Sports Bowl announced that the Big East was to be one of the tie-in conferences for four years starting in 2010, and continued after the conference was renamed the American Athletic Conference following the 2013 reorganization. They were also to have the option of selecting Notre Dame once out of the four years (which they did in 2011). On October 7, 2009, the Champs Sports Bowl announced that they had extended their agreement with the Atlantic Coast Conference for the same term. The game was tp match the third pick from the ACC against the second selection from the Big East. The previous agreement matched the 4th pick from the ACC against the 4th or 5th pick from the Big Ten.^[6] The University of Notre Dame, representing the Big East (as permitted in the agreement with the conference) and Florida State University from the ACC played in the 2011 bowl.

Since 2014, the game features the second pick from the ACC after the New Year's Six bowls make their picks—usually the conference championship game loser or one of the division runners-up—against the third pick from the Big 12.

Game results

Champs Sports Bowl logo (2004-11)

MVPs

The 2006 matchup featured the Maryland Terrapins and the Purdue Boilermakers

Most appearances

The final score of the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl that hosted the Florida State Seminoles and the Wisconsin Badgers.

See also

• List of college bowl games

References

Further reading

• DeGeorge, Gail (1995). The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape. John Wiley & Sons. ASIN B013ILGKYW. 

External links

• Official Website of the Camping World Bowl