Citrus Bowl Extends Partnerships with Big Ten and SEC Through 2025-26
The Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference have agreed to partnership extensions with the Citrus Bowl through the 2025-26 season, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan announced Tuesday.
As part of the updated agreement, the Citrus Bowl will retain the top selection outside of the College Football Playoff series of bowls in both conferences.
“We’re thrilled to extend the Citrus Bowl’s relationships with the SEC and Big Ten through the next bowl cycle,” Hogan said. “Our decades-long partnership with both conferences will continue to allow us to stage one of the country’s most anticipated bowl matchups in Orlando, and we look forward to growing experiences for student-athletes and fans through the 2025 season and beyond.”
The deal also ensures a Big Ten-SEC matchup in each year of the cycle, starting with the 2020-21 season. Under the previous agreement, the Citrus Bowl hosted the top non-New Year’s Six selection from the ACC in years when a Big Ten team was assigned to play in a non-semifinal Orange Bowl.
“We are excited to announce an extension of our longstanding partnership with Florida Citrus Sports and the Citrus Bowl through 2025,” Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said. “The Citrus Bowl and the city of Orlando have been tremendous hosts for our teams for almost three decades, and we look forward to continuing that tradition with a new generation of participants and fans.”
The 2021 Citrus Bowl, the first to be played under the new agreement, will be the 75th edition of Orlando’s New Year’s Day classic, the seventh-oldest bowl game in the country.
“We are pleased to have an SEC bowl lineup that provides exciting destinations for our student-athletes and traveling fans,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in the conference’s announcement of the contract extensions. “We enjoy great relationships with some of the best bowl games in college football and this lineup will continue to provide a wide array of rewarding bowl game experiences for our student-athletes and fans in celebration of a successful season.”
The Citrus Bowl’s ties to its current conference partners date back to 1993, when Camping World Stadium hosted Georgia and Ohio State in the bowl’s first SEC-Big Ten matchup. In last year’s game, Kentucky topped Penn State 27-24, giving the Wildcats their first-ever Citrus Bowl victory.
Since 1993, the SEC and Big Ten have each sent 10 different teams to appear the Citrus Bowl. In that span, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and LSU have each played in four contests to lead the SEC, while Penn State and Michigan lead the Big Ten with five appearances each.
For more information on tickets to this year’s game, click here.