Christmas Day College Football is Back!
Yesterday, the big moment happened. The *former* Football Bowl Association, now aptly named, Bowl Season, released the 2020-21 Bowl schedule. There were more than a few surprises as expected, one of them came out of Montgomery.
The city, known for its importance in the Civil Rights Movement, received an additional bowl, the Montgomery Bowl, on top of the Camellia Bowl. The Montgomery Bowl is on the 23rd and the Camellia Bowl is on Christmas Day.
While the Hawaii Bowl held a traditional spot on Christmas Eve, 2003 was the last time it occurred on Christmas Day. Additionally, the bowl bowed out of bowl season earlier this month, with the New Mexico Bowl, which probably will take place outside of the Land of Enchantment, taking its Christmas Eve spot.
All of this brings us to the Camellia Bowl. Christmas Day college football returns to the sports world for the first time since 2003. Montgomery and the Cramton Bowl have a long history of Christmas Day football. The Blue-Gray Classic was one of the more prominent all-star games in college football and played on Christmas Day for 25 consecutive years from 1979-2003 at the Cramton Bowl.
With the NBA considering an MLK Day start, the Camellia Bowl could be the only sporting event on Christmas. This could be huge exposure for the Group of Five, as many Americans would choose a bowl between the Sun Belt and the MAC over A Christmas Story reruns. All of this would help those conferences in the fight to catch up to the class of the Group of Five, the American.
In what already looks to be a wild bowl season, it was only fitting that among other things, Christmas Day College Football came back. Maybe the Camellia Bowl has some Christmas magic in store for the sports world, but only time will tell.