The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year since 2015 in Orlando, Florida. It is currently held at Camping World Stadium, and in the past has been held at FBC Mortgage Stadium and Exploria Stadium, now known respectively as Acrisure Bounce House and Inter.co Stadium. The Cure Bowl is so named to promote awareness and research of breast cancer, with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Cure Bowl usually features teams from the American Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. Since 2024, it has been sponsored by the health care employment website StaffDNA and officially known as the StaffDNA Cure Bowl; previous sponsors include AutoNation (2014–2018), FBC Mortgage (2019–2020), Tailgreeter (2021), Duluth Trading Company (2022), and Avocados from Mexico (2023).
History The game has tie-ins with the American Conference (American) and the Sun Belt Conference. The inaugural game took place on December 19, 2015, featuring the San Jose State Spartans from the Mountain West Conference and the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. A Mountain West team was invited to the bowl due to the American not having enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the tie-in.
During the planning stages, it was originally proposed to hold the game at Bright House Networks Stadium (now known as Acrisure Bounce House) on the campus of UCF. However, it was later decided to hold the game at the newly renovated Camping World Stadium in downtown Orlando, joining the Camping World Bowl and the Citrus Bowl as annual bowl games at the venue. The game was at held Camping World Stadium in 2015–2018 and 2020, and at Exploria Stadium, now known as Inter.co Stadium, in 2019, 2021–2022. It moved to FBC Mortgage Stadium at UCF in 2023. It moved back to Camping World Stadium in 2024.
The game was acquired by ESPN Events in May 2020. The 2020 edition of the bowl, between Liberty and Coastal Carolina, became the first Cure Bowl to host ranked teams and to go into overtime.
Sponsorship From its inaugural playing in 2015 through 2018, the game was sponsored by AutoNation and was known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl. In December 2019, FBC Mortgage became the new title sponsor, making the game the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. In December 2020, FBC Mortgage renewed its sponsorship of the bowl. On December 2, 2021, digital marketplace Tailgreeter became the new sponsor of the bowl, making the game the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl. On June 29, 2022, Duluth Trading Company was announced as the new title sponsor for the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl. On October 31, 2023, Avocados From Mexico, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association, became the new title sponsor of the game. On May 28, 2024, StaffDNA became the new title sponsor of the game.
Game results All rankings are taken from the AP Poll prior to the game being played.
DateWinning TeamLosing TeamAttendance December 19, 2015 San Jose State 27 Georgia State 16 Camping World Stadium 18,536 December 17, 2016 Arkansas State 31 UCF 13 27,213 December 16, 2017 Georgia State 27 Western Kentucky 17 19,585 December 15, 2018 Tulane 41 Louisiana 24 19,066 December 21, 2019 Liberty 23 Georgia Southern 16 Exploria Stadium 18,158 December 26, 2020 23 Liberty 37 9 Coastal Carolina 34 Camping World Stadium4,488 December 17, 2021 Coastal Carolina 47 Northern Illinois 41 Exploria Stadium9,784 December 16, 2022 23 Troy 18 22 UTSA 12 11,911 December 16, 2023 Appalachian State 13 Miami (OH) 9 FBC Mortgage Stadium 11,121 December 20, 2024 Ohio 30 Jacksonville State 27 Camping World Stadium10,518 December 17, 2025 Old Dominion 24 South Florida 1015,036 Source:
MVPs YearMVPTeamPosition2015 Kenny Potter San Jose State QB2016 Kendall Sanders Arkansas State WR2017 Conner Manning Georgia State QB2018 Darius Bradwell Tulane RB2019 Jessie Lemonier Liberty DE2020 Malik Willis Liberty QB2021 Grayson McCall Coastal Carolina QB2022 KJ Robertson Troy LB2023 Anderson Castle Appalachian State RB2024 Parker Navarro Ohio QB2025 Quinn Henicle Old Dominion QB Source:
Most appearances Updated through the December 2025 edition (11 games, 22 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances TeamAppearancesRecordWin pct. Liberty 2 2–0 Georgia State 2 1–1 Coastal Carolina 2 1–1
Teams with a single appearance Won (7): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Ohio, Old Dominion, San Jose State, Troy, Tulane
Lost (9): Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State, Louisiana, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, South Florida, UCF, UTSA, Western Kentucky
Appearances by conference Updated through the December 2025 edition (11 games, 22 total appearances).
ConferenceRecordAppearances by seasonGamesWLWin pct.WonLost Sun Belt 10 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 American 3 2018 2016, 2025 MAC 3 2024 2021, 2023 CUSA 3 2017, 2022, 2024 Independents 2 2019, 2020 Mountain West 1 2015 Independent appearances: Liberty (2019, 2020)
Game records TeamPerformance vs. OpponentYearMost points scored 47, Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois2021Fewest points allowed 9, Miami (OH) vs. Appalachian State2023Margin of victory 18, Arkansas State vs. UCF2016First downs 29, shared by:Northern Illinois vs. Coastal CarolinaOhio vs. Jacksonville State20212024Total yards 516, Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina2021Rushing yards 337, Tulane vs. Louisiana2018Passing yards 362, Jacksonville State vs. Ohio 2024Most points scored (losing team)41, Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina 2021Most points scored (both teams)88, Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois 2021Fewest yards allowed223, UCF vs. Arkansas State 2016Fewest rushing yards allowed-2, Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State 2017Fewest passing yards allowed44, Miami (OH) vs. Appalachian State 2023IndividualPlayer, TeamYearAll-Purpose Yards 234, Quinn Henicle (Old Dominion)2025Points scored 24, shared by:Malik Willis (Liberty)Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina)Parker Navarro (Ohio)202020212024Passing touchdowns 4, Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina)2021Rushing yards 180, Rashad Amos (Miami (OH))2023Passing yards 362, Tyler Huff (Jacksonville State)2024Receiving yards 184, Cam Vaughn (Jacksonville State)2024Receptions13, Jaivon Heiligh (Coastal Carolina)2020Rushing touchdowns4, Malik Willis (Liberty)2020Receiving touchdowns3, Kendall Sanders (Arkansas State)2016Tackles14, shared by:Demeitre Brim (UCF)Silas Kelly (Coastal Carolina)Carlton Martial (Troy)201620212022Sacks2.5, Curley Young Jr. (Jacksonville State)2024Interceptions2, Jerome Carter (Old Dominion)2025Long PlaysRecord, Player, Team vs. OpponentYearTouchdown run 60 yds., Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina) 2021 Touchdown pass 75 yds., shared by:Justice Hansen to Kendall Sanders (Arkansas State)Tyler Huff to Cam Vaughn (Jacksonville State) 20162024 Kickoff return41 yds., Trayvon Rudolph (Northern Illinois)2018Punt return85 yds., Tyler Ervin (San Jose State)2015Interception return63 yds., Bralen Trahan (Louisiana)2018Fumble return8 yds., Dre Pinckney (Coastal Carolina)2021Punt70 yds., Wil Lutz (Georgia State)2015Field goal46 yds., Alex Probert (Liberty)2019 Source:
Media coverage The game was initially televised by CBS Sports Network, making it one of the few bowl games to not be televised by an ESPN network. Following the bowl's acquisition by ESPN Events in 2020, broadcasting moved to ESPN.
See also Greater Orlando
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