San Francisco Bowl
| Redbox Bowl | |
|---|---|
| File:Redbox Bowl.jpg | |
| Stadium | Levi's Stadium |
| Location | Santa Clara, California |
| Previous stadiums | AT&T Park (2002–2013) |
| Previous locations | San Francisco, California (2002–2013) |
| Operated | 2002–present |
| Conference tie-ins | Pac-12 (2006–present) Big Ten (2014–present) |
| Previous conference tie-ins | Big East (2002–2004) Mtn West (2002–2005) ACC (2005–2010) Army (2011) Navy (2012) BYU (2013) |
| Payout | US$2,212,500 (as of 2015)[1] |
| Sponsors | |
| Former names | |
San Francisco Bowl (2002) Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl (2002–2003) Emerald Bowl (2004–2009) Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (2010–2012) Fight Hunger Bowl (2013) Foster Farms Bowl (2014–2017) | |
| 2017 matchup | |
| Arizona vs. Purdue (Purdue 38–35) | |
| 2018 matchup | |
| Teams TBD (December 31, 2018) | |
The Redbox Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually since 2002. The game was recently sponsored by the Foster Farms poultry company and was known as the Foster Farms Bowl from 2014 to 2017. It was also previously known as the Fight Hunger Bowl in 2013, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl from 2010 to 2012 due to its sponsorship by Kraft Foods, as the Emerald Bowl from 2004 to 2009, and as the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl from 2002 to 2003, in recognition of the corporate title sponsor, Diamond Foods.[2]
From 2002 to 2013, the annual game was played at 40,800-seat AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, in San Francisco, California. Starting in 2014, it has been played at Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, in Santa Clara, California.[3]
History
The plans for the inaugural 2002 San Francisco Bowl were established on Dec. 2, 2002, when the Air Force Falcons football program accepted a bid to play against an undetermined team from the Big East Conference.[4] Their initial sponsor was Diamond Foods, a producer of walnuts and other nuts under the Emerald brand name, resulting in the name Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl, and later the Emerald Bowl.
In 2010, Kraft Foods became the sponsor of the bowl and announced the new name, which the corporation launched as part of a broader hunger relief program.[5] According to Sports Illustrated, the executive director of the bowl, Gary Cavalli, was paid a $377,475 salary in 2009.[6] Mondelēz International continued to support the game and the program related with Feeding America in 2013.
In August 2014, the bowl's official website listed the game's name as the San Francisco Bowl once again.[7] However, on November 11, 2014, it was announced that the San Francisco Bowl Game Association had reached a multi-year naming rights deal with Northern California-based poultry company Foster Farms, resulting in the game being named the Foster Farms Bowl.[8]
On July 12, 2016, the San Francisco 49ers NFL team announced that it had taken over management of the Foster Farms Bowl from the San Francisco Bowl Game Association, and also announced a new, four-year broadcast rights deal with Fox Sports, replacing ESPN.[9]
Field configuration
Because AT&T Park was not normally used for football, the arrangement of the playing field required both teams to be on the same sideline, separated by a barrier at the 50-yard line. The field ran southwest-to-northeast in this configuration, with the south end zone along the first base line, and the north meeting near the left field wall to place optimum seating along the third base grandstand, and some temporary bleacher seating in center field.
Matchups
The Fight Hunger Bowl had a contract to host the Pac-12's sixth-place team during the 2010 through 2013 seasons. There were multiple contracts that determined the opponent. In 2011, the Pac-12 team's opponent was Illinois, replacing Army, which did not achieve bowl eligibility; in 2012, it was Navy; and in 2013, it was BYU. Had these teams not qualified for bowl eligibility, they would have been replaced by teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) or the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
Beginning with the 2014 season, teams come from the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences.[10]
Game results
MVPs
| Date played | MVPs | School | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2002 | Bryan Randall | Virginia Tech | QB |
| Anthony Schlegel | Air Force | LB | |
| December 31, 2003 | Derrick Knight | Boston College | RB |
| T. J. Stancil | Boston College | FS | |
| December 30, 2004 | Aaron Polanco | Navy | QB |
| Vaughn Keley | Navy | CB | |
| December 29, 2005 | Travis LaTendresse | Utah | WR |
| Eric Weddle | Utah | CB | |
| December 27, 2006 | Lorenzo Booker | Florida State | RB |
| Tony Carter | Florida State | CB | |
| December 28, 2007 | Yvenson Bernard | Oregon State | RB |
| Derrick Doggett | Oregon State | LB | |
| December 27, 2008 | Jahvid Best | California | RB |
| Zack Follett | California | LB | |
| December 26, 2009 | Damian Williams | USC | WR |
| Luke Kuechly | Boston College | LB | |
| January 9, 2011 | Rishard Matthews | Nevada | WR |
| Luke Kuechly | Boston College | LB | |
| December 31, 2011 | Nathan Scheelhaase | Illinois | QB |
| Terry Hawthorne | Illinois | DB | |
| December 29, 2012 | Marion Grice | Arizona State | RB |
| Will Sutton | Arizona State | DT | |
| December 27, 2013 | Bishop Sankey | Washington | RB |
| Hau'oli Kikaha | Washington | DE | |
| December 30, 2014 | Kevin Hogan | Stanford | QB |
| James Vaughters | Stanford | LB | |
| December 26, 2015 | Tommy Armstrong Jr. | Nebraska | QB |
| Jaleel Wadood | UCLA | S | |
| December 28, 2016 | Joe Williams | Utah | RB |
| Tegray Scales | Indiana | LB | |
| December 27, 2017 | Elijah Sindelar | Purdue | QB |
| Ja'Whaun Bentley | Purdue | DE |
Most appearances
- Teams with multiple appearances
| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Boston College | 3 | 1–2 |
| T1 | UCLA | 3 | 0–3 |
| T3 | Utah | 2 | 2–0 |
| T3 | Navy | 2 | 1–1 |
| T3 | Maryland | 2 | 0–2 |
- Teams with a single appearance
Won: Arizona State, California, Florida State, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon State, Purdue, Stanford, USC, Virginia Tech, Washington
Lost: Air Force, Arizona, BYU, Colorado State, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Miami (FL), New Mexico
Appearances by conference
Through the December 2017 playing, there have been 16 games (32 total appearances).
| Rank | Conference | Appearances | Wins | Losses | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pac-12[n 1] | 11 | 7 | 4 | .636 |
| 2 | ACC | 6 | 1 | 5 | .167 |
| 3 | Big Ten | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 |
| 4 | Mountain West | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 |
| 5 | Independents[n 2] | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 |
| 6 | Big East[n 3] | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 7 | WAC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
- ^ Includes appearances when the conference was the Pac-10
- ^ Navy (2004, 2012) and BYU (2013)
- ^ Virginia Tech (2002) and Boston College (2003) appeared as members of the Big East. Following the 2013 split of the original Big East along football lines, the FBS schools reorganized as the new American Athletic Conference, which retains the charter of the original Big East.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.statisticbrain.com/college-bowl-game-payouts/
- ^ McMurphy, Brett (November 11, 2014). "Fight Hunger Bowl Changes Name to Foster Farms Bowl", ESPN. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
- ^ "Eye On Football". CBSSports.com. 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
- ^ "Air Force accepts invitation to San Francisco Bowl". 2002-12-04. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
- ^ "Kraft Foods to sponsor San Francisco Bowl Game" (Press release). Kraft Foods. April 15, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
- ^ Murphy, Austin, and Dan Wetzel, "Does It Matter?", Sports Illustrated, 15 November 2010, p. 45.
- ^ http://sfbowl.org/SplashPage.dbml?SPLASH_AD_ID=1334556
- ^ "Foster Farms Bowl". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. November 12, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
- ^ "San Francisco 49ers Assume Management of Foster Farms Bowl at Levi's® Stadium". 49ers.com. Forty Niners Football Company LLC. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- ^ Bay Area Bowl will feature Pac-12 vs. BIG TEN matchup, Fight Hunger Bowl, June 24, 2013