The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and academic consortium between three private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. State of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville, Bates College in Lewiston, and Bowdoin College in Brunswick. In allusion to the Big Three of the Ivy League, Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin, are collectively known the "Maine Big Three",[1][2] a play on words with the words "Maine" and "main". The school names are ordered by their geographical organization in Maine (north to south).
The colleges contest the C-B-B Trophy in three-way football games in the Fall of their respective academic years. As of the 2023–24 season, Bowdoin leads the conference in wins, with 20; Colby has 17 and Bates has won 13. Colby holds the record for the longest streak of consecutive wins (1988–1992). Bates holds the record for biggest shutout with a 51–0 game over Colby in 1985. There have been eight three-way-ties: 1965, 1979, 1993, 1995, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2022. The three colleges also contest the Chase Regatta, an annual up-and-down river tourney. The inaugural winner was Bowdoin, but the series has since been dominated by Bates and Colby; Colby has won the regatta five times and the President's Cup nine times. Bates currently holds the most titles (14 out of 20 wins), the winning streak (2006–present), and the most President's Cups (9 cups).[3]
The CBB Consortium often draws comparisons to the football games of the Big Three of the Ivy League, with Bowdoin often drawing the connection to Harvard, Bates to Princeton, and Colby to Yale.[4] Just as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are initialized as HYP, so too are Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin as "CBB".[5][6]
- ^ Staff, Maine Public (March 20, 2020). "Two of the Maine Big Three colleges have reported positive cases of COVID-19". www.mainepublic.org. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ Snyder, Kayla (April 12, 2019). "A look into the art museums of the Maine Big Three". The Bowdoin Orient. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
- ^ "Athletics | Bates College" (PDF). athletics.bates.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
- ^ Calhoun, Charles (1993). A Small College in Maine. Hubbard Hall, Bowdoin College: Bowdoin College. p. 163.: Bowdoin College. pp. 12, 19.
...Of the three top schools in Maine, the CBB drew the most notation to what was informally characterized as a smaller Ivy League, one that provided an Ivy League education with a smaller student body
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Larson, Timothy (2005). Faith by Their Works: The Progressive Tradition at Bates College from 1855 to 1877. Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine: Edmund S. Muskie Archives. pp. 3, 51.
... the group [CBB] seemed to draw power from their comparisons to the Ivy League operating in such a group entitled, 'the Little Ivies."... Bowdoin often drawing the connection to Harvard, Bates to Princeton, and Colby to Yale..
- ^ "Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin: Plenty of History Behind These Football Rivals". News. 2009-11-11. Retrieved 2016-11-04.