FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). The Orange Bowl is one of the New Year’s Six, the top bowl games for the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

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 Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. 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)—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 six bowls in the CFP since the 2014 season. In the years that it is not a national semifinal, the Orange Bowl is hosted by the ACC champion if that team is not one of the four top seeds for the CFP. The Orange Bowl hosted a national semifinal following the 2015 and 2018 seasons, and will host one following the 2021 season.

AUDIO COURTESY ORANGE BOWL COMMUNICATIONS