DETROIT - The GameAbove Sports Bowl is no longer after a 29-year run in the Detroit area. The cancellation ends the postseason college football tradition previously held at the Pontiac Silverdome and Ford Field.
The bowl is the third such game to fold within the past year, joining the LA Bowl and the Bahamas Bowl. The cancellation marks the end of an event that has been a staple of the Detroit sports calendar since 1997.
The bowl originally debuted as the Motor City Bowl in 1997 at the Pontiac Silverdome, then the home of the Detroit Lions. The event moved to Ford Field in 2002 and underwent several name changes, becoming the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2009 and the Quick Lane Bowl in 2014. It transitioned to the GameAbove Sports Bowl for the 2024 season, with GameAbove Sports serving as the title sponsor for the final two years.
The Detroit-based game was primarily anchored by the Mid-American Conference throughout its history. Since 2020, the Big Ten held a tie-in with the game, following a period from 2014 to 2019 where the Atlantic Coast Conference was involved. Teams from the MAC played in the bowl in eight of the past 11 seasons.
In the final GameAbove Sports Bowl played in December, Northwestern defeated Central Mich. 34-seven. Central Michigan finished with the most all-time appearances in the bowl’s history with six. Other frequent participants included Marshall and Toledo with five appearances each, Bowling Green with four, and Minnesota and Pitt with three appearances each.