Outback Bowl

Outback Bowl
Outback Bowl logo
Stadium	Raymond James Stadium
Location	Tampa, Florida
Previous stadiums	Tampa Stadium (1986–1998)
Operated	1986–present
Conference tie-ins	Big Ten, SEC
Payout	US$3,500,000 (as of 2015)
Sponsors
Outback Steakhouse (1996–present)
Former names
Hall of Fame Bowl (1986–1995)
2017 matchup
Florida vs. Iowa (Florida 30-3)

The Outback Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Years Day. The event was originally called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1994 until being renamed in 1995 for its new title sponsor, Outback Steakhouse. It is organized by the Tampa Bay Bowl Association under Jim McVay, who has been the president/CEO since 1988.

The Outback Bowl was not Tampa's first bowl game; the Cigar Bowl was played at old Phillips Field near downtown from 1947 to 1954. However, the earlier event matched small college teams, so the Outback / Hall of Fame Bowl is the first major bowl game to be played in the area.

The Hall of Fame Classic was held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977–1985. In the spring of 1986, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame decided to discontinue their association with the bowl and realign with a new bowl game to be played in Tampa Stadium which would inherit the Hall of Fame Bowl name. Initially, the Hall of Fame Bowl did not have agreements with any conferences, so it usually matched a school from either the Southeastern Conference or the Atlantic Coast Conference against a team from another region of the country.

Outback Steakhouse became the game's title sponsor in 1995. At the same time, the newly renamed Outback Bowl signed agreements with the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference, creating an annual inter-sectional matchup that has continued ever since.