The History & Evolution of Bowl Games

The college football bowl system that currently supplements the College Football Playoff dates back more than 110 years to Pasadena, California. It was there in 1902 the first ever “bowl game”, was played between Michigan and Stanford. This game was played in a small 10,000 seat stadium in front of 8,000 people before television was even invented. And though it was 5 years before another bowl was played in 1907 (The Bacardi Bowl in Havanna, Cuba) and not until 1934 when we first began to see multiple bowl games consistently played every year, the first-ever postseason football game was a significant moment in college sport as it began an ever-expanding series of postseason football contests. Today, we will deep dive into these bowl games and discuss the history and evolution of the bowl system, while trying to provide insight into how we got to where we are. So if you ever wondered why we have bowl games, how they operate, and just what happens to all that money they make… this is the podcast for you… so just sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of The Sport Professor Podcast.