Gasparilla Bowl

History

The Gasparilla Bowl is the third college bowl game to be played in the Tampa Bay area. The first was the Cigar Bowl, which was played in Tampa from 1947 to 1954, and the second was the ReliaQuest Bowl, which has been held in Tampa since 1986 and was known as the Outback Bowl for over 20 years.

In 2008, the NCAA's Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee approved a yet-to-be-named bowl game to be owned by ESPN and played at Tropicana Field after the 2008 college football season. Telecom company magicJack signed on as the title sponsor, and the inaugural magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl was played on December 20, 2008, between South Florida and Memphis, with the Bulls winning 41–14 behind Most Outstanding Player quarterback Matt Grothe.

For the 2009 game, restaurant chain Beef O'Brady's took over as presenting sponsor. The game became known as St. Petersburg Bowl Presented by Beef O'Brady's in December 2009 after the restaurant chain obtained a title sponsorship. Rutgers defeated UCF 45–24.

In 2010, the bowl's name was shortened to the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. Southern Miss faced Louisville; it was the 29th meeting between former Conference USA rivals. Louisville rallied from a 14-point deficit to win their sixth contest in a row against Southern Miss.

Beef 'O' Brady's stopped sponsoring the bowl after the 2013 edition. 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. 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.

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. The sponsorship ended after the 2019 game.

On October 20, 2020, Union Home Mortgage signed on as title sponsor of the bowl, making it the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. 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.

Conference tie-ins

The first three editions of the bowl featured teams from C-USA and the Big East. The American Athletic Conference (AAC) succeeded the Big East after 2013. The bowl entered a six-year agreement with the ACC for the 2014 to 2019 seasons; the ACC would provide a team in 2014 and 2016, and would be an alternate for the other seasons. Ultimately, the only ACC team to play in the bowl during this period was NC State in 2014. Four of the five games from 2015 through 2019 featured a matchup between AAC and C-USA teams. The exception was 2016, when an overall lack of bowl-eligible teams yielded some "odd matchups"; the bowl's 2016 edition featured teams from the MAC and SEC.

As of the 2020 football season, the bowl has a large set of tie-ins, such that it could feature teams from eight different conferences as well as two independent programs:

• from the Power Five conferences: ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC
• from the Group of Five conferences: AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC
• independent programs: Army, BYU

Note: since 2020, both Army and BYU have joined conferences.

Stadium

The bowl has been played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa since the 2018 edition. The first ten games were played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

"The Trop" is the home ballpark of the Tampa Bay Rays of MLB, and when it was first established, the then-St. Pete Bowl was one of several new college bowl games to be played in baseball venues. At Tropicana Field, the football gridiron was situated down the right field line from near home plate to the outfield wall with just enough room for the endzones.

Game results

Source:

MVPs

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

Source:

Most appearances

Updated through the December 2025 edition (17 games, 34 total appearances).

;Teams with multiple appearances

;Teams with a single appearance Won (7): East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Mississippi State, Rutgers, Temple, Wake Forest Lost (7): Ball State, Connecticut, Miami (OH), Missouri, Ohio, Southern Miss, Tulane

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2025 edition (17 games, 34 total appearances).

• The record of the American Conference 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), American (2014, 2019, 2021), and Big 12 (2023).

Game records

Source:

Media coverage

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

Notes

References

References

1. "2019 Bowl Schedule".
2. "'O' No! Beef 'O' Brady's to drop sponsorship of local bowl game".
3. [https://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=ncf&id=3375759 NCAA committee approves 34 football bowl games] The Associated Press, ESPN.com. April 30, 2008. Accessed April 30, 2008.
4. [http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/usf-no-longer-headed-to-st-pete-bowl "No longer St. Pete Bowl"] {{webarchive. link. (2012-09-14 from ''[[Tampa Tribune]]'', 2008-11-25, retrieved 2008-12-02)
5. *[http://www.stpetersburgbowl.com/BOB-release.php "Beef O Brady's Sponsorship Press Release" 2009-12-09, retrieved 2009-12-13] {{webarchive. link. (2009-12-14)
6. [http://southernmiss.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120510aaa.html "Golden Eagles to Face Louisville in Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl"] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-09-28 2010-12-05, retrieved 2010-12-05)
7. "Louisville holds on for 31-28 win over Southern Miss in Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl".
8. Wilkerson, Chris. (August 22, 2014). "BitPay exec: We paid ESPN for our sponsorship in bitcoin".
9. (18 June 2014). "BitPay to Sponsor St. Petersburg Bowl in First Major Bitcoin Sports Deal". Wall Street Journal.
10. "Bitcoin backer BitPay dumps St. Pete Bowl sponsorship".
11. "Bad Boy Mowers Signs on as New Bowl Game Title Sponsor Bowl Game Changes Name to Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl".
12. "Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl will, sadly, no longer be the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl".
13. "Union Home Mortgage Named New Title Sponsor For Gasparilla Bowl".
14. "Tampa's Gasparilla Bowl canceled after South Carolina bails".
15. Batten, Sammy. (August 8, 2013). "ACC announces 2014 bowl partnerships".
16. Trister, Noah. (December 5, 2016). "Miss. State, North Texas headed to bowls at 5-7". [[Tallahassee Democrat]].
17. Baker, Matt. (October 20, 2020). "Gasparilla Bowl announces new title sponsor".
18. "Gasparilla Bowl leaving St. Petersburg after 10 years". 10NEWS.
19. (December 15, 2023). "College football bowl season adds to events in unique settings".
20. "How a bowl game fits in a baseball stadium". Banner Society.
21. "UCF vs. Marshall - Game Summary - December 23, 2019 - ESPN".
22. (December 23, 2019). "Scoring Summary (Final) UCF vs Marshall".
23. Low, Chris. (December 22, 2020). "South Carolina Gamecocks out of Gasparilla Bowl due to COVID-19 issues".
24. (2020). "Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl". NCAA.
25. "Game Facts and History".
26. (December 22, 2023). "Congrats to the 2023 @unionhomemtg Gasparilla Bowl MVP, #11 @jamalhaynes16 !".
27. Smajovits, Harrison. (December 20, 2024). "Gators QB DJ Lagway Takes Home Gasparilla Bowl MVP".
28. Knight, Joey. (December 21, 2018). "Gasparilla Bowl journal: Barnett-St. Felix connection shines".
29. (2017). "Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl Media Guide". [[ESPN Events]].
30. (December 23, 2019). "UCF Jumps Out to 21-0 Lead and Rolls to 48-25 Win Over Marshall in 2019 Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl".