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])
Website	orangebowl.org
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
Notre Dame vs. Penn State (Notre Dame 27–24)

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only by the Rose Bowl Game.

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. 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). Between 2007 and 2023, the Orange Bowl has hosted the ACC champion—unless they are involved in the national championship or playoff, in which case another high-ranking ACC team takes their place.^[1]

Beginning in 1992, the Orange Bowl joined with several other bowls to create the Bowl Coalition in an effort to produce an undisputed national champion in college football. It would subsequently participate in the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Championship Series. From 1992 to 2006, the Orange Bowl served as the national championship game of these systems in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. Miami Gardens and the Orange Bowl Committee hosted the BCS National Championship Game in 2009 and 2013 in addition to the regular Orange Bowl game.

In 2014, the Orange Bowl, along with the "New Year's Six" bowls, became a part of the College Football Playoff. As part of the four team playoff from 2014 to 2023, the Orange Bowl served as a semifinal game in 2015, 2018, and 2021. When not serving as a semifinal, the Orange Bowl featured the best available team from the ACC versus the second best team from the Big Ten or SEC or Notre Dame.

With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to twelve teams in the 2024–25 season, the Orange Bowl will serve as either a quarterfinal or semifinal each year. It served as a semifinal in 2025 and will serve as a quarterfinal in 2026. When serving as a quarterfinal, the Orange Bowl will host the ACC champion, if seeded in the top four. When serving as a semifinal, the game will be played one week after New Year's Day and, if the ACC champion is one of the top two seeds, the team will be assigned to the Orange Bowl.^[2]

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