Cure Bowl
The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in December of each year in Orlando, Florida, currently at Exploria Stadium. The Cure Bowl is so named to promote awareness and research of breast cancer, with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. From its inaugural game in 2015 through the 2018 game, the game was played at Camping World Stadium and was sponsored by AutoNation, being officially known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl.[2] In December 2019, FBC Mortgage became the new title sponsor, making the game officially the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.[3] The Cure Bowl usually features teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
| Cure Bowl | |
|---|---|
| FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl | |
 | |
| Stadium | Exploria Stadium |
| Location | Orlando, Florida |
| Previous stadiums | Camping World Stadium (2015–2018) |
| Operated | 2015–present |
| Conference tie-ins | The American, Sun Belt |
| Payout | US$573,125 (2019)[1] |
| Sponsors | |
AutoNation (2015–2018) FBC Mortgage (2019–present) | |
| Former names | |
AutoNation Cure Bowl (2015–2018) | |
| 2018 matchup | |
| Louisiana vs. Tulane (Tulane 41–24) | |
| 2019 matchup | |
| Liberty vs. Georgia Southern (Liberty 23–16) | |
History
The game has tie-ins with the American Athletic Conference (The American) and the Sun Belt Conference. The inaugural game took place on December 19, 2015,[4] featuring the San Jose State Spartans from the Mountain West Conference and the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. A Mountain West team was invited to the bowl due to The American not having enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the tie-in. The inaugural game was nationally televised on the CBS Sports Network,[5] as has each subsequent edition.
During the planning stages, it was originally proposed to hold the game at Bright House Networks Stadium on the campus of UCF.[6] However, it was later decided to hold the game at the newly-renovated Camping World Stadium in downtown Orlando, joining the Camping World Bowl and the Citrus Bowl as annual bowl games at the venue.[7] The bowl remained at Camping World Stadium through 2018, and was moved to Exploria Stadium starting in 2019.[8]
Game results
| Date | Winning Team | Losing Team | Attendance | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 19, 2015 | San Jose State | 27 | Georgia State | 16 | 18,536 | notes |
| December 17, 2016 | Arkansas State | 31 | UCF | 13 | 27,213 | notes |
| December 16, 2017 | Georgia State | 27 | Western Kentucky | 17 | 19,585 | notes |
| December 15, 2018 | Tulane | 41 | Louisiana | 24 | 19,066 | notes |
| December 21, 2019 | Liberty | 23 | Georgia Southern | 16 | 18,158 | notes |
| December 19, 2020 | TBD | TBD | TBD | notes | ||
MVPs
| Year | MVP | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Kenny Potter | San Jose State | QB |
| 2016 | Kendall Sanders | Arkansas State | WR |
| 2017 | Conner Manning | Georgia State | QB |
| 2018 | Darius Bradwell[9] | Tulane | RB |
| 2019 | Jessie Lemonier[10] | Liberty | DE |
Most appearances
Updated through the December 2019 edition (5 games, 10 total appearances).
| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record | Win pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia State | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T2 | Arkansas State | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | Liberty | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | San Jose State | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | Tulane | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | Georgia Southern | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | Louisiana | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | UCF | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | Western Kentucky | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
Appearances by conference
Updated through the December 2019 edition (5 games, 10 total appearances).
| Conference | Record | Appearances by season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | W | L | Win pct. | Won | Lost | |
| Sun Belt | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 2016, 2017 | 2015, 2018, 2019 |
| The American | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 2018 | 2016 |
| Mountain West | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2015 | |
| Independents | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2019 | |
| C-USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 2017 | |
Media coverage
Television
| Date | Network | Play-by-play announcers | Color commentators | Sideline reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | CBS Sports Network | Carter Blackburn | Aaron Taylor | Jenny Dell |
| 2016 | ||||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | ||||
| 2019 | John Schriffen |
Radio
| Date | Network | Play-by-play announcers | Color commentators | Sideline reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | iHeartRadio | Paul Kennedy | Max Starks | Jamie Seh |
| 2016 | Touchdown Radio | Bernie Guenther | Gino Torretta | Jamie Seh |
| 2017 | Touchdown Radio | JP Shadrick | Gino Torretta | Jamie Seh |
| 2018 | Touchdown Radio | JP Shadrick | Gino Torretta | Jamie Seh |
| 2019 | Gameday Radio | Jamie Seh | Dani Welniak | Melanie Newman |
See also
References
- "2019 Bowl Schedule". collegefootballpoll.com. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- "AutoNation signs on as title sponsor of Cure Bowl". Retrieved October 24, 2014.
- "FBC Mortgage Named Title Sponsor of the Cure Bowl and March 2 Cure". CureBowl.com (Press release). December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- "Citrus Bowl to host Cure Bowl in 2015". WESH.com. Hearst Television. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
- "AAC, Sun Belt to meet in 2015 Cure Bowl on CBS Sports Network". CBSSports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
- Washington, Chad (April 14, 2014). "Report: Sun Belt to be tie-in to new bowl game in Orlando". The Daily Advertiser. Lafayette, Louisiana. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- Murschel, Matt (April 14, 2014). "Orlando set to host third bowl game featuring teams from AAC, Sun Belt". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
- Murschel, Matt (May 1, 2019). "Orlando City Stadium to host Cure Bowl". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- @Guersmith (December 15, 2018). "Darius Bradwell Cure Bowl MVP" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- @ASeaofRed (December 21, 2019). "Jessie Lemonier is named MVP of the 2019 Cure Bowl" (Tweet). Retrieved December 21, 2019 – via Twitter.