This is a list of college football bowl games, including those proposed and defunct. Six bowl games are part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving twelve of the top-ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). There are also a number of other college football postseason invitationals, as well as several all-star games.
For nearly a century, bowl games were the purview of only the very best teams, but a steady proliferation of new bowl games required more teams, with 70 participating teams by the 2010–11 bowl season, then 80 participating teams by the 2015–16 bowl season. As a result, the NCAA has steadily relaxed the criteria for bowl eligibility. Teams with a non-winning record (6–6) were allowed starting in 2010. Requirements were further reduced to allow teams with outright losing records (5–7) to be invited since 2012, with the team with the best Academic Progress Rate score (among teams with 5–7 records) to be chosen first. While inviting teams without winning records to bowl games has become more commonplace, there were several losing teams who played in bowl games before the last decade's changes in bowl eligibility: 1946 Gator Bowl, South Carolina (2–3–3); 1963 Sun Bowl, SMU (4–6); 1970 Tangerine Bowl, William & Mary (5–6); and the 2001 New Orleans Bowl, North Texas (5–6). For the 2016–17 bowl season, 25% of the bowl participants (20 teams) did not have a winning record.
The tables (College Football Playoff games, Other current Division I FBS bowl games) reflect changes for the 2022–23 bowl season.
Bowl games are not limited to the Bowl Subdivision; teams in the three lower divisions of the NCAA—the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, and Division III—are also allowed to participate in bowl games. The playoff structure in those three divisions discourages most high-caliber teams from participating in bowl games, as teams would rather contest for their division's national championship than play in a bowl game. The same basic guidelines for bowl eligibility apply for those contests. As of 2017, one bowl game (the Celebration Bowl) exists for FCS, four bowls serve Division II, and ten exist for teams in Division III (not including the Stagg Bowl, which is the name for the NCAA Division III Football Championship game).
Community college bowl games, not sanctioned by the NCAA, are also listed.
College Football Playoff games
Six major bowl games, known as the New Year's Six, rotate the hosting of the two semifinal games which determine the teams that play in the final College Football Playoff National Championship game. The New Year's Six includes six of the ten oldest bowl games (missing the Sun, Gator, Citrus and Liberty bowls), continuing their original history of pitting the very best teams in the country against each other. These six games focus on the top 12 teams in the rankings, with only five teams ranked lower than 12th (all five were still ranked in the top 20) having ever played in the New Year's Six since the College Football Playoff system was inaugurated.
NameFirstgameVenue(permanent seating)CityMost recentper teampayout(+ revenue pool)TitlesponsorPrevious name(s)Rose Bowl Game1902(annual since 1916)Rose Bowl(92,542)Pasadena, California*$4 million for QuarterfinalsPrudentialTournament East-West football game; Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by: AT&T^, Sony PlayStation 2^, Citi^, Vizio^, Northwestern Mutual^, Capital One^Orange Bowl1935Hard Rock Stadium(64,767)Miami Gardens, Florida$6 million for SemifinalsCapital OneOrange Bowl, FedEx Orange Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl Sugar Bowl1935Caesars Superdome(73,208)New Orleans, Louisiana†$4 million for QuarterfinalsAllstateSugar Bowl, USF&G Sugar Bowl, Nokia Sugar BowlCotton Bowl Classic1937AT&T Stadium(80,000)Arlington, Texas$6 million for SemifinalsGoodyearCotton Bowl, Mobil Cotton Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic, SBC Cotton Bowl Classic, AT&T Cotton Bowl ClassicPeach Bowl1968 Mercedes-Benz Stadium(71,000) Atlanta, Georgia$4 million for QuarterfinalsChick-fil-APeach Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Chick-fil-A BowlFiesta Bowl1971State Farm Stadium(63,400)Glendale, Arizona$4 million for QuarterfinalsVrboFiesta Bowl, Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, IBM OS/2 Fiesta Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Vizio Fiesta Bowl, BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
^ The Rose Bowl did not add a sponsor to its name until the 1998 season. Unlike other bowls, which give the sponsor's name precedence ahead of the bowl's name (effectively changing the title of the game), the Rose Bowl adds the sponsor as "presented by", after the words Rose Bowl. Two-time move, due to World War II travel restrictions after the attack on Pearl Harbor moving the 1942 game to Duke Stadium in Durham, NC, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic moving the 2021 game to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. † One-time move, due to damage to the Superdome from Hurricane Katrina, moving the 2006 game to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA.
Other current Division I FBS bowl games Besides the six bowl games that are part of the College Football Playoff, there are a number of other postseason invitationals. Generally, two conferences will agree to send teams of a particular standing to a game beforehand. For instance, the Rose Bowl traditionally features the Big Ten and Pac-12 conference champions. Generally, the payout to the participating teams in a bowl game is closely correlated to its prestige. By comparison, each of the former BCS bowls (including the national championship game) had a payout of $18 million.