| Stadium |
Citrus Bowl |
| Location |
Orlando, Florida |
| Previous Stadiums |
Stadiums Joe Robbie Stadium/Pro Player Stadium (1990-2000) |
| Previous Locations |
Miami Gardens, Florida (1990-2000) |
| Operated |
1990-present |
| Conference Tie-ins |
ACC, Big Ten |
| Payout |
US$2,250,000 (2006) |
| 2006 Matchup |
Maryland vs. Purdue (24-7) |
| 2007 Matchup |
Michigan State vs. Boston College (December 28, 2007) |
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Champs Sports Bowl History
The Champs Sports Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida. The game was played at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida from 1990 to 2000 and is now played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
The game was originally organized by Raycom Sports in the summer of 1990. Organizers were looking to add a second bowl game to the popular Miami area (alongside the Orange Bowl). At the time, the Orange Bowl was still being played at the Miami Orange Bowl. Game organizers were looking to host the game, however, at the newer Joe Robbie Stadium. Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga soon joined forces and brought in Blockbuster as title sponsor. The inaugural game was a smash success, pitting Florida State and Penn State, and two legendary coaches, Bobby Bowden versus Joe Paterno in front of over 74,000 at Joe Robbie Stadium. Subsequent games, however, never matched the success of the first, depite a short tenute on New Year's Day. In 1996, the Orange Bowl moved into Pro Player Stadium, and the game lost its short-lived New Year's Day slot.
Since 2001, the bowl has been operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Capital One Bowl and Florida Classic. FCS took over the game, moved it to Orlando, to give the city two bowl games, and initially utilized the monikor of Tangerine Bowl, bringing back the "Tangerine Bowl" name which had been associated with Orlando previously for decades.
Since the 2006 football season, the bowl has matched up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Since 2004, Champs Sports, a division of Foot Locker, has sponsored the event. Under the terms of a television deal signed with ESPN in 2006, the bowl will be held after Christmas Day from 2006-2009, 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.
Before gaining Blockbuster Entertainment as a corporate sponsor in 1990, the game was also referred to as the Sunshine Classic.
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