ReliaQuest Bowl

History

Previous Tampa bowl game

The Cigar Bowl was played at old Phillips Field near downtown Tampa from 1947 to 1954. Because the Cigar Bowl featured teams from smaller colleges, however, the 1986 Hall of Fame Bowl was the first major college bowl game to be played in the area.

Hall of Fame Bowl

The Hall of Fame Classic was a mid-level bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1985. In the spring of 1986, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame decided to discontinue their association with the bowl and realign with a new game to be played in Tampa Stadium which would inherit the Hall of Fame Bowl name. Tampa's Hall of Fame Bowl did not initially have any conference tie-ins, so organizers often sought to arrange a match-up between a team from a southern school (usually the Southeastern Conference or Atlantic Coast Conference) and one from another region of the country to maximize both game attendance and potential visitors to the area.

Outback Bowl

Tampa-based restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse became the game's title sponsor in April 1995, allowing the bowl to increase its payout to participants and sign agreements with the SEC and the Big Ten conferences, creating an annual cross-regional match-up that has continued ever since. In 1999, the bowl moved from Tampa Stadium to newly constructed Raymond James Stadium next door.

ReliaQuest Bowl

Though it had signed a six-year extension in 2019, the parent company of Outback Steakhouse decided to discontinue its association with the game in March 2022 in a cost-cutting measure, ending the longest continuous title sponsorship in college bowl history and resulting in a temporary renaming of the game to Tampa Bay Bowl. In June 2022, Tampa-based cybersecurity company ReliaQuest was announced as the new title sponsor. The game following the 2024 season was scheduled for December 31, making it the first edition of the bowl since its debut to be scheduled in December, and the first edition scheduled for New Year's Eve, a change spurred by the expanded College Football Playoff. The 2025 edition was also scheduled for New Year's Eve.

The game

The bowl has primarily been played on New Year's Day, unless January 1 falls on a Sunday, in which case it is moved to the following Monday. Often the first game to start on a day which is traditionally full of college bowl games, it has kicked off as early as 11 a.m. ET. The inaugural edition was held on December 23, 1986, and the 2024 and 2025 editions were each scheduled for New Year's Eve.

ESPN has had television rights to the game since 1993. Under an extension of those rights signed in 2010, ESPN broadcasts the game on either ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2, in conjunction with the Citrus Bowl and the New Year's Six bowl games. Before 1993, the bowl aired on NBC.

Upon signing agreements with the SEC and Big Ten in 1995, the bowl had the third pick of teams from each conference after the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) teams were placed. Since 2014, both the SEC and Big Ten have worked with a group of several bowl games, including this one, to place their bowl-eligible teams after the College Football Playoff (CFP) and associated bowls have made their selections.

As of 2023, the bowl's payout was $6.4 million for each participating team.

Game results

Rankings are based on the AP poll prior to the game being played.

Table uses AP RANKINGS for historical continuity (CFP rankings didn't exist until the 2014 season)

Source: LSU's win in the 2014 edition was vacated in 2023 by the NCAA for a booster-related violation.

MVPs

The bowl has named an MVP since inception; in the inaugural game, there were co-MVPs.

Source:

Most appearances

Updated through the December 2025 edition (40 games, 80 total appearances).

;Teams with multiple appearances

LSU's win in the 2014 edition was vacated by the NCAA in 2023.

;Teams with a single appearance Won (5): Arkansas, Clemson, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ole Miss Lost (6): Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, NC State, Purdue, Vanderbilt

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2025 edition (40 games, 80 total appearances).

LSU's vacated win following the 2013 season (played in January 2014) is excluded from win–loss totals and winning percentage.

• Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
• Results reflect conference affiliations at the time each game was played.
• Big East appearances: Syracuse (1992) and Boston College (1993); the American Conference retains the charter of the original Big East, following its 2013 realignment.
• Independent appearances: Boston College (1986) and Syracuse (1988).

Game records

Source:

Media coverage

The inaugural edition of the bowl was carried by Mizlou in December 1986, with NBC carrying the next five editions (1988–1992).

References

References

1. "2022 Bowl Schedule | College Football Poll.com".
2. (December 29, 1995). "A new name highlights the 10th year of what started as the Hall of Fame Bowl". Tampa Tribune.
3. McEwen, Tom. (April 17, 1986). "Hall of Fame Bowl will be played in Tampa". [[The Tampa Tribune]].
4. (April 13, 1995). "Bowl gets new sponsor". [[San Francisco Examiner]].
5. Mills, Roger. (September 3, 1998). "Outback joins the crowd at new stadium". [[St. Petersburg Times]].
6. (March 25, 2022). "Crikey! Outback Bowl changes name". Tampa Bay Times.
7. (May 2, 2022). "Bloomin' CEO on dropped Outback Bowl sponsorship: 'It was just time'". Tampa Bay Business Journal.
8. Baker, Matt. (June 9, 2022). "Tampa's Outback Bowl has a new name: the ReliaQuest Bowl". [[Tampa Bay Times]].
9. (June 6, 2024). "Reliaquest Bowl Slated to Kickoff at 12:00 PM ET on New Year's Eve".
10. Krall, Annie. (December 29, 2025). "Thousands flock to Tampa Bay for New Year's Eve ReliaQuest Bowl, delivering big tourism boost".
11. "ESPN Signs Deal with Gator Bowl, Extends Agreements with Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl; All Three Games to be Televised on New Year's Day". ESPN.
12. "2016-17 SEC Bowl Schedule".
13. "Big Ten Bowl Partners".
14. "About the Bowl".
15. Mandel, Stewart. "Vacated LSU wins leave Les Miles out of CFB Hall of Fame consideration".
16. "Quick Game Summary".
17. (January 2023). "Bowl Game Summary".
18. (January 1, 2024). "Garrett Nussmeier is the ReliaQuest bowl MVP.".
19. Kingsley, Noah. (December 31, 2024). "Jordan Marshall breaks through to earn ReliaQuest Bowl MVP in first start".
20. (January 1, 2020). "No. 18 Minnesota tops No. 12 Auburn in Outback Bowl".
21. "Outback Bowl Records".
22. "2019–20 Football Bowl Association Media Guide".