The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl was scheduled to get underway on Saturday, December 16 at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium to commence the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision season. However, plans were changed due to repairs expected to begin shortly at the venue.

Clint Overby, vice president of ESPN Events, made the announcement of the event’s inevitable venue change last week. “The 2023 Bahamas Bowl will be played at an alternate venue due to ongoing renovations at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium in Nassau. Specific bowl plans will be announced in the coming weeks, and we look forward to the bowl returning to The Bahamas next year,” he said.

The ninth edition of the event in The Bahamas was slated to be the first time the game would be played on a Saturday since they launched the NCAA football extravaganza in 2014.

In previous weeks, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture (MOYSC) Mario Bowleg said that the national stadium would be getting an overhaul beginning November 1 which would interrupt upcoming sporting events to be held at the venue, including the Bahamas Bowl. “There is a way we believe we can work it out but in some cases and some other events, we will probably have to cancel it, for example the bowl game calls for ESPN so that might not look too good with a lot of construction going on at the same time,” the minister told reporters.

Nonetheless, the Bahamas Bowl will make its return to The Bahamas in December 2024 but for now no alternate venue has been announced.

The bowl game will feature teams from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Conference USA (C-USA).

The HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl is just one of 17 bowl games owned and operated by ESPN events.

In the eighth edition of the bowl game, the University of Alabama (UAB) Blazers shut down the Miami University (Ohio) Redhawks 24-20 to earn their second consecutive bowl game win.

The team’s first win of the two came against Brigham Young University (BYU) in 2021 at the Independence Bowl. Other previous bowl game winners include the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders who defeated the University of Toledo Rockets in 2021.

The University of Buffalo bested the University of North Carolina 49ers in 2019.

Also, the Florida International University (FIU) Panthers became victors after dropping the Toledo Rockets in 2018.

The Redhawks won in 2017, Old Dominion claimed the victory in the previous year, Western Michigan got the win in 2015 and Western Kentucky won the first edition of the bowl game in 2014.

The game was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HomeTown Lenders will serve as the event’s title sponsor for the second straight year.