International Bowl
| International Bowl | |
|---|---|
 International Bowl logo, 2007–present | |
| Stadium | Rogers Centre |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Operated | 2007–present |
| Conference tie-ins | Big East, Mid-American |
| Payout | US$750,000 (As of 2008[update]) |
| 2008 matchup | |
| Rutgers vs. Ball State (52–30) | |
| 2009 matchup | |
| Connecticut vs. Buffalo (January 3) | |
The International Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto, Ontario. It is the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States, and the first since the Bacardi Bowl was played in Cuba on January 1, 1937. The inaugural game in 2007 matched up Western Michigan University with the University of Cincinnati and was televised live on ESPN2 in the United States and TSN in Canada. Ball State and Rutgers played in the 2008 edition. Buffalo has accepted an invitation to the 2009 edition of the game, the first time the MAC champion has participated in the bowl. They will face Connecticut in the game.[1]
History
The first game was played on January 6, 2007 at the Rogers Centre, home to the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts, multiple Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Vanier Cups (1989–2003, 2007), and the part-time home of the Buffalo Bills (2008-2012). In 2004, a partnership led by the City of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreak[citation needed], but the NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, California instead. Toronto re-launched the bid in 2005 and was successful, playing the first game at the end of 2006 season.
The bowl signed an agreement with two Division I conferences for annual representation. The Big East Conference, a Bowl Championship Series conference, will send a top team, and the Mid-American Conference will also select a top team for inclusion in the event. Each conference is composed of schools in the northern states of the American Midwest and Northeast, except for the University of South Florida.
The inaugural game was the first post-season bowl game played outside the United States since the Bacardi Bowl was played in Cuba on January 1, 1937,[2] and the first football game of significance to be played in Canada under American football rules since Simon Fraser University's football team left the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 2001, and joined CIS, where Canadian universities play under Canadian football rules.
The 2009 game is notable in that the Buffalo Bulls (champions of the Mid-American Conference) will appear in the first bowl game in the history of the school. The Bulls turned down their only other bowl invitation in 1958, as the black players on the team were not going to be permitted to play. It is also notable since the professional Buffalo Bills will have played their first regular-season NFL game in the same stadium just four weeks prior to the International Bowl.
Results
| Date | Winning team | Losing team | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 6, 2007 | Cincinnati | 27 | Western Michigan | 24 | 26,717 |
| January 5, 2008 | Rutgers | 52 | Ball State | 30 | 31,455 |
2009 International Bowl
| Date | MAC team | Big East team | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 3, 2009 | Buffalo | Connecticut | |||
MVPs
| Date | MVP | School | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Dominick Goodman | Cincinnati | WR |
| 2008 | Ray Rice | Rutgers | RB |
Most appearances
| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Cincinnati | 1 | 1–0 |
| T1 | Rutgers | 1 | 1–0 |
| T1 | Buffalo * | 1 | 0–0 |
| T1 | Connecticut * | 1 | 0–0 |
| T1 | Ball State | 1 | 0–1 |
| T1 | Western Michigan | 1 | 0–1 |
* Will play in the 2009 International Bowl
Photo gallery
2007
-
Looking at the University of Cincinnati band from Windows restaurant. -
Looking at the fifty yard line. -
WMU defends against the Cincinnati shotgun. -
WMU on offense. -
Rogers Centre video scoreboard follows the play. -
WMU band at half time. -
WMU band cheers Broncos from the stands. -
Concrete is exposed beyond the end zones and side lines because the field was shortened and narrowed from Canadian football to American football dimensions.
Notes and references
- ^ UConn accepts bid to International Bowl
- ^ The Bacardi Bowl, however, was not the last major-college football game to be played outside the US before the International Bowl. The Mirage Bowl, later the Coca-Cola Bowl, was played in Tokyo during the regular season between 1977 and 1993, and Navy and Notre Dame played their annual game in Dublin in 1996.