The Myrtle Beach Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

first played in December 2020 in the

Myrtle Beach metropolitan area The Myrtle Beach metropolitan area (also Myrtle Beach–Conway–North Myrtle Beach MSA) is a census-designated metropolitan statistical area consisting of Horry County in South Carolina and Brunswick County in North Carolina. The wider Myrtle ...

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

hosts the game at its Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, which has a capacity of 20,000 seats following an expansion project completed prior to the 2019 season. Owned by

ESPN Events ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events ...

, the bowl has tie-ins with Conference USA, the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

and the Sun Belt Conference. The affiliation contract with ESPN Events has each conference supplying a team four times in a six-year bowl cycle from 2020 to 2025.

Background

In 2013, "Group of Five" conferences were looking to start bowl games for their leagues, as the

Power Five conferences The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiat ...

"prefer to play each other in bowl games". The

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

had a restriction on championship games, including bowl games, being held in South Carolina due to display of the Confederate flag on State House grounds, which was lifted in July 2015. Organizers for the

Medal of Honor Bowl The Medal of Honor Bowl was an American college football all-star game played in Charleston, South Carolina, in January 2014 and 2015. The bowl was not sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Primary beneficiaries of th ...

, an all-star game, announced their intent to apply for NCAA sanctioning as a traditional postseason bowl game featuring FBS college teams, with a tentative game date of December 18, 2016. However, in April 2016, the NCAA announced a three-year moratorium on new bowl games.

History

In June 2018, the NCAA indicated that the

Grand Strand The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the NE South Carolina coast. The term G ...

area was approved for a bowl game. The Myrtle Beach Bowl was subsequently announced on November 13, 2018, by ESPN Events, with tie-ins to three conferences: the Sun Belt Conference, Conference USA (C-USA), and

(MAC). During 2017–18 bowl season, there had been three teams that were

bowl eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

but did not go to a bowl, as all slots were filled:

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

and Buffalo from the MAC, and UTSA from C-USA. The bowl made its debut as part of the 2020–21 bowl season, matching

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

of C-USA and Appalachian State of the Sun Belt.

Game results

2021 Myrtle Beach Bowl victory formation

MVPs

Appearances by team

Updated through the December 2022 edition (3 games, 6 total appearances).

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2022 edition (3 games, 6 total appearances). Independent appearances: UConn (2022)

Media coverage

Television

Radio

Game records

Updated through the December 2022 game.

References

External links

* {{Bowl game broadcasters navbox College football bowls Myrtle Beach Bowl Conway, South Carolina Annual sporting events in the United States American football in South Carolina Recurring sporting events established in 2020 2020 establishments in South Carolina