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The Capital One Bowl is an annual college football bowl
game played in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl, and
previously known as the Tangerine Bowl (1947–1982) and the
Florida Citrus Bowl (1983-2001). Financial services company
Capital One has been the title sponsor of the bowl since
2001 when it was the Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl but
with the exclusive Capital One Bowl moniker since 2003. The
bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit
group which also organizes the Champs Sports Bowl and
Florida Classic.
Since becoming one of the premier bowls, the
Capital One Bowl is traditionally held at 1 p.m. eastern on
New Year's Day, immediately before the Rose Bowl, both of
which are televised on ABC. In 2004, the Capital One Bowl
bid to become the fifth BCS game, but was not chosen,
primarily due to the stadium's aging condition. On July 26,
2007 the Orange County Commissioners voted 5–2 in favor of
spending a total of 1.1 billion dollars on building a new
arena for the Orlando Magic, building a performing arts
center and upgrading the Citrus Bowl. If it were to become a
BCS bowl, in the tradition of the major bowls, it likely be
renamed the Capital One Citrus Bowl, or the Citrus Bowl,
sponsored by Capital One.
Currently, the bowl has tie-ins with the SEC and the Big Ten
holding the first selection after the BCS for both
conferences. As of 2006 it has the largest payout of
all the non-BCS bowls at $4.25M per team.
The game is one of the oldest of the non-BCS
bowls, next to the Cotton Bowl and Sun Bowl, beginning play
in 1947. The first game played before an estimated crowd of
9,000. By 1952, the game was dubbed the "Little Bowl with
the Big Heart," because all the proceeds from the game went
to charity. Before 1968 the game featured matchups between
schools throughout the South, often featuring the Ohio
Valley Conference champion or other small colleges (though a
few major colleges did play in the bowl during this early
era as well). After becoming a major college bowl game, from
1968 through 1975 the bowl featured the Mid-American
Conference champion against an opponent from the Southern
Conference (through 1972), the SEC (1972–1973) or an
at-large opponent (1975). As the major football conferences
relaxed restrictions on post-season play in the mid-1970s,
the game went to a matchup between two at-large teams from
major conferences, with one school typically (but not
always) from the South. From 1987 to 1991 it featured the
ACC Champion against an at large opponent.
In 1986, it was one of the bowl games considered for the
site of the "winner take all" national championship game
between Penn State and Miami before the Fiesta Bowl was
eventually chosen.
The 1991 game featured National Championship implications.
Georgia Tech won the Florida Citrus Bowl, finished 11–0–1,
and were voted the 1990 UPI national champion.
The 1998 game, which featured nearby Florida beating Penn
State, holds the game's attendance record at 72,940. |
