Orange Bowl

Orange Bowl
Capital One Orange Bowl
Stadium	Hard Rock Stadium
Location	Miami Gardens, Florida (December 1996–1998, 2000–present)[a]
Previous stadiums	Miami Field (1935–1937) Miami Orange Bowl (1938–January 1996, 1999)
Previous locations	Miami, Florida (1935–January 1996, 1999)
Operated	1935–present
Championship affiliation	CFP (2014–present) BCS (1998–2013) Bowl Alliance (1995–1997) Bowl Coalition (1992–1994)
Conference tie-ins	ACC (1999–present) SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame (December 2014–present)
Previous conference tie-ins	Big Eight (1954–1996) Big East (1999–2006)
Payout	US$35 million/conference (As of 2009[update])
Sponsors
Federal Express/FedEx (1989–2010) Discover Financial (2011–January 2014) Capital One (December 2014–present)
Former names
Orange Bowl (1935–1988) Federal Express/FedEx Orange Bowl (1989–2010) Discover Orange Bowl (2011–January 2014)
2023 matchup
Florida State vs. Georgia (Georgia 63–3)
2024 season matchup
(January 9, 2025)

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played annually in the Miami metropolitan area since January 1, 1935. Along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, it is one of the oldest bowl games in the country behind only the Rose Bowl, which was first played in 1902 and has been played annually since 1916.

The Orange Bowl was originally held in the city of Miami at Miami Field before moving to the Miami Orange Bowl stadium in 1938. In 1996, it moved to its current location at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the home football field for both the University of Miami and Miami Dolphins. Since December 2014, the game has been sponsored by Capital One and officially known as the Capital One Orange Bowl. Previous sponsors include Discover Financial (2011–January 2014) and Federal Express/FedEx (1989–2010).

In its early years, the Orange Bowl had no defined conference tie-ins; it often pitted a team from the southeastern part of the country against a team from the central or northeastern states. From the 1950s until the mid-1990s, the Orange Bowl had a strong relationship with the Big Eight Conference. The champion (or runner-up in years in which the "no-repeat" rule was invoked) was invited to the bowl game in most years during this time; the 1979 Orange Bowl even had two representatives from the Big Eight. Opponents of the Big Eight varied; but were often major independents, runners-up in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), or champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Since 2007, the Orange Bowl has hosted the ACC champion—unless they are involved in the national championship playoff, in which case another high-ranking ACC team takes their place^[1]—and has used the brand Home of the ACC Champion.

In the 1990s, the Orange Bowl was a member of the Bowl Coalition, but kept its Big Eight tie-in. It was later a member of the Bowl Alliance. From 1998 to 2013, the Orange Bowl was a member of the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The Orange Bowl served as the BCS National Championship Game in 2001 and 2005. However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game became a stand-alone event, hosted by the local bowl organization about one week following the New Year's Day bowl games (including the Orange Bowl). Under that format, the Orange Bowl Committee hosted two separate games in both 2009 (the 2009 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2009 BCS National Championship Game on January 8) and in 2013 (the 2013 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2013 BCS National Championship Game on January 7), all at the same venue. The BCS ended after the 2013 season, being replaced by the current College Football Playoff (CFP). The Orange Bowl has served as one of the New Year's Six bowl games in the CFP since the 2014 season. The Orange Bowl hosted a national semifinal following the 2015, 2018, and 2021 seasons.

With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams in 2024, the Orange Bowl will become an annual feature of that playoff, along with the other New Year's Six bowls. Traditional conference tie-ins prior to 2024 will still try to be respected for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, but are no longer obligated to be met.

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