Tropicana Field is a domed multipurpose stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. "The Trop" has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural season in 1998. The stadium is also used for college football, and from December 2008 to December 2017 was the home of the St. Petersburg Bowl, an annual postseason bowl game. The venue is the only nonretractable domed stadium in MLB. Tropicana Field is the smallest MLB stadium by seating capacity when obstructed-view rows in the uppermost sections are covered with tarps as they are for most Rays games.
The South Florida Bulls football team represents the University of South Florida (USF). The Bulls began playing in 1997 and compete in the American Athletic Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The team plays its home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Starting in 2027, the Bulls will host home games at a new $340 million on-campus stadium.
Beef O'Brady's is an American restaurant franchise, established in 1985 by Jim Mellody in Brandon, Florida, and headquartered in Tampa.
The Tampa Bay area is home to many sports teams and has a substantial history of sporting activity. Most of the region's professional sports franchises use the name "Tampa Bay", which is the name of a body of water, not of any city. This is to emphasize that they represent the wider metropolitan area and not a particular municipality and was a tradition started by Tampa's first major sports team, the original Tampa Bay Rowdies, when they were founded in 1975.
The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year since 2015 in Orlando, Florida. It is currently held at Camping World Stadium, and in the past has been held at FBC Mortgage Stadium and Exploria Stadium. The Cure Bowl is so named to promote awareness and research of breast cancer, with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Cure Bowl usually features teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. Since 2024, it has been sponsored by the health care employment website StaffDNA and officially known as the StaffDNA Cure Bowl; previous sponsors include AutoNation (2014–2018), FBC Mortgage (2019–2020), Tailgreeter (2021), Duluth Trading Company (2022), and Avocados from Mexico (2023).
The 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl was the second edition of the college football bowl game and was played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game began at 8:00 p.m. US EST on Saturday, December 19, 2009, was telecast on ESPN and featured the UCF of Conference USA and Rutgers of the Big East. Rutgers defeated UCF 45–24 in a game where Mohamed Sanu, the game's MVP, caught 4 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown in addition to rushing 14 times for 47 yards and two touchdowns. Through sponsorship from the Beef O'Brady's restaurant franchise, the game was officially known as the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef 'O' Brady's.
The 2010 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl was the third edition of the college football bowl game formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl. This was the first edition of the bowl named after the Beef O'Brady's restaurant franchise. It was played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 8 p.m. (ET). The game was telecast on ESPN and featured the Southern Miss Golden Eagles from Conference USA (C-USA) versus the Louisville Cardinals from the Big East Conference.
The 2011 Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl, the fourth edition of the game formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 20, 2011 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, and telecast at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. Marshall defeated Florida International, 20–10.
The 2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, the fifth edition of the game formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 21, 2012 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, as part of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season.
The 2013 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on December 23, 2013, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sponsored by the Beef 'O' Brady's restaurant franchise, it was the sixth edition of the game formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl. It featured the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference against the East Carolina Pirates of Conference USA. It was one of the 2013–14 bowl games that concluded the 2013 FBS football season. The game began at 2:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. East Carolina defeated Ohio, 37–20, by scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter.
The 2014 St. Petersburg Bowl, the seventh edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game that was played on December 26, 2014 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game matched the NC State Wolfpack of the Atlantic Coast Conference against the American Athletic Conference co-champion UCF Knights. The game began at 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games concluding the 2014 FBS football season. The Wolfpack defeated the Knights, 34–27.
The 2017–18 NCAA football bowl games was a series of college football bowl games which completed the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 16, 2017, and aside from the all-star games ended with the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, which was played on January 8, 2018.
The 2017 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 21, 2017, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The tenth edition of the game previously known as the St. Petersburg Bowl, it featured the Temple Owls of the American Athletic Conference against the FIU Panthers of Conference USA. It began at 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games that concluded the 2017 FBS football season. The Owls defeated the Panthers by a score of 28–3.
The 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games completing the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 15, 2018, and, aside from the all-star games that follow, ended with the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, which was played on January 7, 2019.
The 2018 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2018, with kickoff scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST. It was the 11th edition of the game originally known as the St. Petersburg Bowl and renamed before its 2017 playing as the Gasparilla Bowl, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by lawn mower manufacturing company Bad Boy Mowers, the game was officially known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.
The 2019 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 23, 2019, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. EST on ESPN. It was the 12th edition of the Gasparilla Bowl, although only the third under that name, and one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. Sponsored by lawn mower manufacturing company Bad Boy Mowers, the game was officially known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.
Union Home Mortgage is an American mortgage loan company based in Strongsville, Ohio. Founded in 1970, the company reports that it operates in 44 states plus Washington, D.C., with over $5 billion in annual lending volume. The company also reports that it has been named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America four times (2016–2019).
The 2021 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 23, 2021, with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. EST, televised on ESPN. It was the 13th edition of the Gasparilla Bowl, and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by mortgage loan company Union Home Mortgage, the game was officially known as the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
The 2022–23 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football games played to complete the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Team-competitive games began in mid-December and concluded with the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 9, 2023, which was won by the Georgia Bulldogs. The all-star portion of the schedule began on January 14 and concluded on February 25, 2023.
The 2023 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 22, 2023, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The 15th annual Gasparilla Bowl featured the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the UCF Knights from the Big 12 Conference. The game began at approximately 6:30 p.m. EST and was aired on ESPN. The Gasparilla Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by mortgage loan company Union Home Mortgage and was officially known as the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
