International Bowl

Collegebowl
name = International Bowl
full_name =
nickname =
defunct =


image_size =
caption = International Bowl logo, 2007–present
stadium = Rogers Centre
previous_stadiums =
location = Toronto, Ontario
previous_locations =
years = 2007–present
previous_tie-ins =
conference_tie-ins = Big East, Mid-American
payout = 750,000 (2008)
sponsors =
former_names =
prev_matchup_year = 2007
prev_matchup_season= 2006
prev_matchup_teams = cfb link|year=2006|team=Cincinnati Bearcats|school=University of Cincinnati|title=Cincinnati vs. cfb link|year=2006|team=Western Michigan Broncos|school=Western Michigan University|title=Western Michigan
prev_matchup_score = 27–24
next_matchup_year = 2008
next_matchup_season= 2007
next_matchup_teams = cfb link|year=2007|team=Rutgers Scarlet Knights|school=Rutgers University|title=Rutgers vs. Ball State
next_matchup_date = 52–30

The International Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto, Ontario. It is the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States, and the first since the Bacardi Bowl was played in Cuba on January 1, 1937. The inaugural game in 2007 matched up cfb link|year=2006|team=Western Michigan Broncos|school=Western Michigan University|title=Western Michigan University with the cfb link|year=2006|team=Cincinnati Bearcats|school=University of Cincinnati|title=University of Cincinnati and was televised live on ESPN2 in the United States and TSN in Canada. Ball State and cfb link|year=2007|team=Rutgers Scarlet Knights|school=Rutgers University|title=Rutgers played in the 2008 edition.

History

The first game was played on January 6, 2007 at the Rogers Centre, home to the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts and multiple Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Vanier Cups (1989–2003, 2007). In 2004, a partnership led by the City of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreakfact|date=September 2008, but the NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, California instead. Toronto re-launched the bid in 2005 and was successful, playing the first game at the end of 2006 season.

The bowl signed an agreement with two Division I conferences for annual representation. The Big East Conference, a Bowl Championship Series conference, will send a fourth placed team or higher to the game, and the Mid-American Conference will also select a top team for inclusion in the event. Each conference is composed of schools in the northern states of the American Midwest and Northeast, except for the University of South Florida.

The inaugural game was the first post-season bowl game played outside the United States since the Bacardi Bowl was played in Cuba on January 1, 1937, [The Bacardi Bowl, however, was not the last major-college football game to be played outside the US before the International Bowl. The Mirage Bowl, later the Coca-Cola Bowl, was played in Tokyo during the regular season between 1977 and 1993, and Navy and Notre Dame played their annual game in Dublin in 1996.] and the first football game of significance to be played in Canada under American football rules since Simon Fraser University's football team left the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 2001, and joined CIS, where Canadian universities play under Canadian football rules.

Results

MVPs

Photo gallery

2007

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.internationalbowl.org Official website of the International Bowl]