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The Outback Bowl has officially been given a new name, and no, it’s not the “Tampa Bay Bowl” as first expected.
The infamous New Year’s Day college football bowl is now named the ReliaQuest Bowl. ReliaQuest is a global cybersecurity company based in Tampa, where the bowl is located.
This means for the first time since 1995, the bowl has a new name. Outback sponsored the annual SEC versus Big Ten/ACC postseason matchup from ’96 until March 2022. Before that, it was titled the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986–95.
When the bowl announced in March that Outback was no longer the sponsor title for the game, fans were confused due to the fact that Outback signed a six-year extension back in 2019. The game took on the “Tampa Bay Bowl” name at that time.
But, the Tampa Bay Bowl didn’t stick for too long. It was given this name to represent the Tampa Bay community, not because of a sponsorship. The bowl decided to change the name when ReliaQuest put up an offer to partner with the bowl.
The game will continue to be played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers, but this time on Jan. 2, 2023 instead of New Year’s Day.