Gasparilla Bowl

The Gasparilla Bowl is the third college bowl game to be played in the Tampa Bay area; the Outback Bowl has been held in Tampa since 1986 and the Cigar Bowl was played from 1947 to 1954.

On April 30, 2008, the NCAA's Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee approved a to-be-named bowl for Tropicana Field to be played after the 2008 college football season.[4] On November 25, 2008, ESPN Regional Television, the game's owner, announced a one-year title sponsorship agreement with magicJack.[5]

The inaugural magicJack Bowl was played on Dec 20, 2008, between the South Florida Bulls and Memphis Tigers, with the USF Bulls winning by a score of 41–14. USF Quarterback Matt Grothe was named Most Outstanding Player, after throwing for 236 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 83 yards on 15 carries.

magicJack did not renew its sponsorship, and the UCF Knights and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights met in the St. Petersburg Bowl Presented by Beef O'Brady's in December 2009 after the restaurant chain obtained a title sponsorship.[6] In the second St. Petersburg Bowl Presented by Beef O'Brady's, Rutgers defeated Central Florida 45–24.

In 2010, the bowl's name was shortened to the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl and pitted the Southern Miss Golden Eagles against the Louisville Cardinals on December 21, 2010. It was the 29th meeting between former Conference USA rivals.[7] After falling behind 14–0 and 21–7, Louisville came back to win their sixth contest in a row against Southern Miss, 31–28[8]

Beef 'O' Brady's stopped sponsoring the bowl after the 2013 edition.[3] On June 18, 2014, it was announced that Bitcoin payment service provider BitPay would become the new sponsor of the game under a two-year deal, renamed the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. Bitcoin, the digital currency, was accepted for ticket and concession sales at the game as part of the sponsorship, and the sponsorship itself was also paid for using bitcoin.[9][10] On April 2, 2015, after one year of sponsorship, BitPay declined to renew sponsorship of the game, and it was again called the St. Petersburg Bowl for the next two years.[11]

On August 23, 2017, Bad Boy Mowers signed a three-year deal to become the official title sponsor of the game, which was rebranded as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl after Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival.[12] The sponsorship ended after the end of the 2019 edition of the game.[13]

On October 20, 2020, Union Home Mortgage signed on as title sponsor of the bowl, making it the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.[14] The 2020 edition of the bowl was set to matchup South Carolina and UAB. However, on December 22, South Carolina had to withdraw from the bowl due to COVID-19 issues within their program.[15] As no replacement team was available, the bowl was subsequently canceled.[15]

Stadium

Tropicana Field

Raymond James Stadium

The bowl has utilized two venues; Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for its first 10 editions, and Raymond James Stadium in nearby Tampa starting with the 11th playing, in December 2018.

Since Tropicana Field is the home field of the Tampa Bay Rays and was designed for baseball, the football gridiron was arranged along the right field line, from home plate to the foul pole. At the time it was last played at Tropicana Field, the bowl was one of three to take place in a stadium used predominantly for baseball, the others two being the Cactus Bowl, played at Chase Field in Phoenix, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, home of the New York Yankees. The Fight Hunger Bowl was played at AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of the San Francisco Giants, but moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers, in 2014. The Miami Beach Bowl was played at Marlins Park in Miami, home of the Miami Marlins, but moved to Toyota Stadium, home to FC Dallas of Major League Soccer, to become the Frisco Bowl in 2017.

In May 2018, bowl organizers announced that the bowl would be moving from Tropicana Field to Raymond James Stadium.[2]

Source:[22]

From 2008 through 2016, an MVP was selected from each team; since 2017, a single game MVP is named.

Source:[23][24]

Updated through the December 2019 edition (12 games, 24 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances

Teams with a single appearance

Won: East Carolina, Louisville, Mississippi State, NC State, Rutgers, Temple
Lost: Ball State, Connecticut, Memphis, Miami (OH), Ohio, Southern Miss

Updated through the December 2019 edition (12 games, 24 total appearances).

• The American's record includes appearances of the Big East Conference, as The American retains the charter of the original Big East, following its 2013 realignment. Teams representing the Big East appeared in three games, compiling a 3–0 record.
• UCF has appeared as a member of C-USA (2009 and 2012) and The American (2014 and 2019).

Source:[26][27]

The bowl has been televised on ESPN since its inception, and broadcast on ESPN Radio and later Gameday Radio.

• Official website