Allstate Sugar Bowl to celebrate 150th Anniversary of College Football

Bowl Will Highlight 150 Stars of the Game as Part of College Football 150

NEW ORLEANS – The first college football game was played on November 6, 1869 as Princeton and Rutgers faced off in New Brunswick, N.J. Sixty-six years later, the Sugar Bowl debuted with its inaugural showdown between Tulane and Temple on January 1, 1935. Now, 84 years later, the Allstate Sugar Bowl is proud to be a part of the nation-wide celebration of the 150th anniversary of college football.

“The Sugar Bowl Committee is proud of its rich history and we look forward to helping celebrate the 150th anniversary of college football,” said Jeff Hundley, the chief executive officer of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. “Recognizing 150 Stars from our past gives us a chance to thank those greats for their contributions to our success, and it gives fans a fun and engaging look back at memorable moments from our first 85 years.”

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has been an integral part of the college football landscape since its debut. It has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 93 Hall of Fame players, 50 Hall of Fame coaches and 18 Heisman Trophy winners in its 85-year history. The 86th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, featuring top teams from the Big 12 and the SEC, will be played on January 1, 2020.

As part of the College Football 150 celebration, the Allstate Sugar Bowl will recognize 150 “Stars of the Sugar Bowl.” Each day, starting August 4 and continuing through December 31, the Sugar Bowl will post a “Star” – a former player, a coach or somebody else associated with lifting the Sugar Bowl to its current level of prestige.

Countless colleges and universities, conferences, bowl games and media companies have signed on to support the CFB150 initiative. The organizations have planned a variety of different activations that will amplify the anniversary messages and build overall awareness for the effort. The special CFB150 logo has been widely circulated, and it will appear on uniform patches, helmet decals, field stencils, public service announcements, TV telecasts, social media channels and numerous other places during the season.

“More than 5.33 million people have played college football since the first game between Princeton and Rutgers on November 6, 1869,” said Archie Manning, a current member of the Sugar Bowl Committee and the 1970 Sugar Bowl’s Most Outstanding Player. “Included in that number are many of our nation’s greatest leaders who often cite their gridiron experiences as the key to their success. Additionally, the sport is annually enjoyed by tens of millions of fans, and it has grown significantly over the years with new teams constantly added and more than 80,000 student-athletes slated to play for college programs this fall.”

Several neutral site games at both the FCS and FBS levels have committed to highlight the anniversary with in-stadium promotions during their games. The NCAA, the CFP and the bowl games have similar plans during their respective championship games, which will conclude the historic 2019 season.

The CFB150 worked with the NCAA to establish a special “Week Zero” for the season, and the Kickoff Week will feature four games on August 24. The two games at the FBS level are the Camping World Kickoff between Miami and Florida in Orlando, Florida, on ESPN and a game between Arizona and Hawaii in Halawa, Hawaii, on the CBS Sports Network. Two more games will take place at the FCS level: the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff between Youngstown State and Samford in Montgomery, Alabama, on ESPN and Villanova against Colgate in Hamilton, New York, on the CBS Sports Network.

The CFB150 has also planned a special celebration week to commemorate the anniversary of first game between Rutgers and Princeton in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Running from October 31 to November 9, the CFB150 Anniversary Week will feature a special event at Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., on November 6 and a tribute game between Miami (Ohio) and Ohio in Athens, Ohio.

The NFL will also take part in CFB150 Anniversary Week with a special tribute to college football during the November 4 Monday Night Football Game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Celebration week will conclude with Princeton playing Dartmouth at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, on November 9.

In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors nearly 100,000 student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.