ReliaQuest Bowl
Stadium	Raymond James Stadium
Location	Tampa, Florida
Previous stadiums	Tampa Stadium (1986–1998)
Operated	1986–present
Conference tie-ins	Big Ten,SEC
Payout	US$6.67 million ($20 million aggregate for the 2022–2024 college football seasons)[1]
Website	reliaquestbowl.com
Sponsors
Outback Steakhouse (1996–2022) ReliaQuest (2022–present)
Former names
Hall of Fame Bowl (1986–1995) Outback Bowl (1996–2022)
2023 matchup
LSU vs.Wisconsin (LSU 35–31)
2024 matchup
Michigan vs.Alabama (Michigan 19–13)

TheReliaQuest Bowl is an annualcollege footballbowl game played inTampa, Florida. The event was known as theHall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and theOutback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held atTampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it moved to then-newRaymond James Stadium. The bowl has been played onNew Year's Day for most of its history, often the first game to kick off on a day that is traditionally filled with post-season college football.

TheCigar Bowl was played at oldPhillips Field near downtown Tampa from 1947 to 1954. Because the Cigar Bowl featured teams from smaller colleges, however, the1986 Hall of Fame Bowl was the first major college bowl game to be played in the area.^[2]

TheHall of Fame Classic was a mid-level bowl game played atLegion Field inBirmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1985. In the spring of 1986, theNational Football Foundation andCollege Football Hall of Fame decided to discontinue their association with the bowl and realign with a new game to be played inTampa Stadium which would inherit the Hall of Fame Bowl name.^[3] Tampa's Hall of Fame Bowl did not initially have any conference tie-ins, so organizers often sought to arrange a match-up between a team from a southern school (usually theSoutheastern Conference orAtlantic Coast Conference) and one from another region of the country to maximize both game attendance and potential visitors to the area.^[2]

Tampa-based restaurant chainOutback Steakhouse became the game's title sponsor in April 1995, allowing the bowl to increase its payout to participants and sign agreements with theSEC and theBig Ten conferences, creating an annual cross-regional match-up that has continued ever since.^[2][4] In 1999, the bowl moved fromTampa Stadium to newly constructedRaymond James Stadium next door.^[5]

Though it had signed a six-year extension in 2019, the parent company of Outback Steakhouse decided to discontinue its association with the game in March 2022 in a cost-cutting measure, ending the longest continuous title sponsorship in college bowl history and resulting in a temporary renaming of the game toTampa Bay Bowl.^[6][7] In June 2022, Tampa-basedcybersecurity companyReliaQuest was announced as the new title sponsor.^[8] The ReliaQuest Bowl following the2024 season was scheduled for December 31, 2024, making it the first edition of the bowl since its inaugural edition (played as the Hall of Fame Bowl) to be scheduled in December, and the first edition scheduled for New Year's Eve, a change spurred by the expandedCollege Football Playoff.^[9]

The bowl is played onNew Year's Day unless January 1 falls on a Sunday, in which case it is moved to the following Monday. It is usually the first game to start on a day which is traditionally full of college bowl games, and has kicked off as early as 11 a.m.ET.ESPN has had television rights to the game since 1993. Under an extension of those rights signed in 2010, ESPN broadcasts the game on eitherABC, ESPN, orESPN2, in conjunction with theCitrus Bowl and theNew Year's Six bowl games.^[10] Before 1993, the Hall of Fame Bowl aired onNBC.

Upon signing agreements with the SEC and Big Ten in 1995, the bowl had the third pick of teams from each conference after theBowl Championship Series (BCS) teams were placed. Since 2014, both the SEC and Big Ten have worked with a group of several bowl games, including this one, to place their bowl-eligible teams after theCollege Football Playoff (CFP) and associated bowls have made their selections.^[11][12]

As of 2023, the bowl's payout was $6.4 million for each participating team.^[13]

Rankings are based on theAP Poll prior to the game being played.

Source:^[14]
† LSU's win in the 2014 edition wasvacated in 2023 by the NCAA for a booster-related violation.^[15]

The bowl has named an MVP since inception; in the inaugural game, there were co-MVPs.^[16]

Source:^[14][17][18]

Updated through the December 2024 edition (39 games, 78 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances

† LSU's win in the 2014 edition wasvacated by the NCAA in 2023.

Teams with a single appearance

Won (5):Arkansas,Clemson,Michigan State,Minnesota,Ole Miss
Lost (5):Duke,Indiana,Kentucky,NC State,Purdue

Updated through the December 2024 edition (39 games, 78 total appearances).

‡ LSU'svacated win following the 2013 season (played in January 2014) is excluded from win–loss totals andwinning percentage.

• Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
• Results reflect conference affiliations at the time each game was played.
• Big East appearances: Syracuse (1992) and Boston College (1993); theAmerican Athletic Conference (The American) has retained the charter of the original Big East, following its2013 realignment.
• Independent appearances: Boston College (1986) and Syracuse (1988).

Source:^[20]

The inaugural edition of the bowl was carried byMizlou in December 1986, withNBC carrying the next five editions (1988–1992).^[21] Since 1993, the game has been carried byESPN orESPN2, except for four broadcasts onABC (2011, 2012, 2017, and 2021).^[21]

• Official website

• ReliaQuest Bowl
• College football bowls in Florida
• American football competitions in Tampa, Florida
• Recurring sporting events established in 1986
• 1986 establishments in Florida
• New Year's Day

• CS1 errors: missing title
• CS1 errors: bare URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia