Liberty Bowl
| Liberty Bowl | |
|---|---|
| AutoZone Liberty Bowl | |
 |
|
| Stadium | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium |
| Location | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Previous stadiums |
John F. Kennedy Stadium (1959–1963) Convention Hall (1964) |
| Previous locations |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1959–1963) Atlantic City, New Jersey (1964) |
| Operated | 1959–present |
| Conference tie-ins |
Big 12 #4 Pick vs SEC Pool Pick The American (alternate) |
| Previous conference tie-ins |
C-USA (1996–2013) MWC (1998–2005) winner of the Commander in Chief's Trophy (1989–1992) |
| Payout | US$2,400,000(As of 2014[update]) |
| Sponsors | |
| Former names | |
|
Liberty Bowl (1959-1992)
St. Jude Liberty Bowl (1993-1996) AXA Liberty Bowl (1997–2003) |
|
| January 2016 matchup | |
| Arkansas vs. Kansas State (Arkansas 45–23) | |
| December 2016 matchup | |
| Georgia vs. TCU (Georgia 31–23) | |
The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. Since 1965, the game has been held at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. For its first five years, it was played in Philadelphia. Since 2004, the game has been sponsored by Memphis-based auto parts retailer AutoZone. Because of the scheduling of the bowl game near the end of the calendar year, no game was played during calendar years 2008 or 2015, while two games were played in calendar years 2010 and 2016.
A. F. "Bud" Dudley, a former Villanova athletic-director, created the Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia in 1959. The game was played at Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium. It was the only cold-weather bowl game of its time, and was plagued by poor attendance. The inaugural game was the most successful of the five held in Philadelphia, as 38,000 fans watched Penn State beat Alabama 7–0 in 1959.
Atlantic City convinced Dudley to move his game from Philadelphia to Atlantic City's Convention Hall for 1964 and guaranteed Dudley $25,000. It would be the first Bowl Game played indoors. AstroTurf was still in its developmental stages and was unavailable for the game. Convention Hall was equipped with a 4-inch-thick (100 mm) grass surface with two inches of burlap underneath it (as padding) on top of concrete. To keep the grass growing, artificial lighting was installed and kept on 24 hours a day. The entire process cost about $16,000. End-zones were only 8 yards long. 6,059 fans saw Utah rout West Virginia. Dudley was paid $25,000 from Atlantic City businessmen, $60,000 from the gate, and $95,000 from television revenues, for $10,000 net profit.
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