College football bowl game canceled after 29 years, per report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
A long-running college football bowl game is reportedly no more. CFB insider Brett McMurphy of On3 reported Tuesday that the bowl game most recently known as the GameAbove Sports Bowl will not be played next season.
The Detroit-area bowl game has a 29-year history. The Ford Motor City Bowl first launched in 1997. It was known as the Motor City Bowl from 1998-2008 before becoming the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. It became the QuickLane Bowl for 10 seasons in 2014, changing its name to GameAbove Sports Bowl in 2024.
The bowl game was initially played at the Pontiac Silverdome from 1997 to 2001. Since then, however, it has been played at Ford Field in Detroit.
The MAC had a long relationship with the bowl game. In recent years, the Big Ten was its Power conference tie-in. The ACC was partnered with the bowl game from 2014 to 2019.
The 2025 game featured Northwestern and Central Michigan. The Wildcats won in dominating fashion, 34-7.
The GameAbove Sports Bowl is the latest postseason game to be axed. The LA Bowl and Bahamas Bowl were both canceled in the past year. ESPN Events replaced the Bahamas Bowl with the Xbox Bowl this past season.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
