Sugar Bowl | |
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Allstate Sugar Bowl | |
Allstate Sugar Bowl logo
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Stadium | Mercedes-Benz Superdome |
Location | New Orleans, Louisiana |
Previous stadiums |
Tulane Stadium (1934–1974) Georgia Dome (2006) |
Previous locations | Atlanta, Georgia (2006) |
Operated | 1935–present |
Conference tie-ins |
SEC (unofficial 1935–1975, official 1976–present) Big 12 (2015–present) |
Payout | US$17,000,000 per team (As of 2014[update]) |
Sponsors | |
Former names | |
Sugar Bowl (1935–1987)
USF&G Sugar Bowl (1988–1995) Nokia Sugar Bowl (1996–2006) |
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2016 matchup | |
Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss (Ole Miss 48–20) | |
2017 matchup | |
Oklahoma vs. Auburn (Oklahoma 35–19) |
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009. The Sugar Bowl, along with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl, are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl Game. The Sugar Bowl is also a member of the College Football Playoff. Presently, its official title is the Allstate Sugar Bowl after its current sponsor, the Allstate insurance company.
The Sugar Bowl has had a longstanding — albeit not exclusive — relationship with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) (which once had a member institution based in New Orleans, Tulane University; another Louisiana school, Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, is still in the SEC today). From 1950 to 1995, only once did the Sugar Bowl not feature an SEC team. That relationship has been altered over the past twenty years due to conference realignments and the emergence of a series of coalitions and alliances intending to produce an undisputed national champion in college football, but the ties between the Sugar Bowl and the SEC have persisted and have recently been strengthened. The SEC's opponent varied from year to year, but was often the runner-up of the Big 8 or SWC, or a major independent. Since 2015, The Sugar Bowl, along with the Rose, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta bowls, is one of the "New Years Six" bowls in rotation for the College Football Playoff. It hosted a playoff semifinal following the 2014 season, and will next host one following the 2017 season. In other years, it will feature the best available teams from SEC and the Big 12 Conferences, an arrangement nearly identical with the relationship between the Rose Bowl and the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-12.