The contest is one of 14 bowls produced by ESPN Events (previously ESPN Regional Television) and has been televised annually on ESPN since its inception. Armed Forces Insurance is the official Insurance Partner of the Armed Forces Bowl and has sponsored the Great American Patriot Award, presented at halftime at the bowl, since 2006.[3]
History
The bowl was first played in December 2003, featuring two ranked teams, No. 18 Boise State and No. 19 TCU. It was the only edition to include a ranked team (per the AP Poll) until No. 22 Army played in December 2018.
Through the December 2018 playing, one of the three FBS-playing service academies (Army, Navy, and Air Force) has appeared in the game ten times. Contractual tie-ins with the American Athletic Conference (home of Navy), the Mountain West Conference (home of Air Force) and the independent Army assures that one of those schools could appear in the game every year, if bowl-eligible and not already committed to another bowl.
The 2018 game, between Army and Houston, was the first sellout in the bowl's 16-year history.[4]
Sponsorship
The bowl game was inaugurated in 2003 as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl, reflecting the sponsorship of PlainsCapital Bank. The bank's sponsorship ended after the 2004 edition,[5] and the 2005 game was staged without corporate sponsorship.
In 2006, Fort Worth based Bell Helicopter Textron took over sponsorship, and thus the game became officially known as the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.[6] The Bell sponsorship ended after the 2013 edition.[7] During this time, the 2010 and 2011 Armed Forces Bowl were held at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the campus of Southern Methodist University in the Dallasenclave of University Park, while Amon G. Carter Stadium was undergoing a major renovation. The game returned to Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth in 2012, after construction on that stadium was completed.
The bowl's partnership with the Big 12 Conference ended with the 2005 season. From 2006 to 2009, the Mountain West Conference was signed to provide a team to face either a team from the Pac-10 or Conference USA (C-USA), depending on the year; Pac-10 teams would play in odd number years while C-USA teams would play in even numbered years). As such, the 2006 and 2008 games featured C-USA teams Tulsa and Houston, respectively, whereas California represented the Pac-10 in 2007. The Pac-10 was unable to send a representative to the game in 2009, so C-USA sent Houston to the game for a second consecutive year. In 2010, since the Mountain West did not have enough eligible teams and Army was bowl eligible, Army played SMU in the bowl.
Following the 2013 football season, the Armed Forces Bowl signed multi-year agreements with the American Athletic Conference (The American), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Mountain West Conference, Army and Navy to set bowl match-ups for the next six seasons (Navy later joined The American, and Army committed to do so beginning with the 2024 football season).[1]
In December 2020, it was announced that the 2020 game would be played between teams from the Pac-12 and SEC, following cancellation of the ESPN Events-owned Las Vegas Bowl (which would have been featuring those tie-ins for the first time) due to complications relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] However, due to a lack of available teams from the Pac-12, Tulsa of the American Athletic Conference was ultimately selected to face Mississippi State of the SEC.
The bowl has been televised on ESPN since its inception. Radio coverage was initially on ESPN Radio, and is currently carried nationally via Bowl Season Radio.
