| Detroit Free Press
There’ll be no college bowl game in Detroit this year.
The Quick Lane Bowl has been bumped from this season’s schedule, according to Bowl Season, the new branding for the Football Bowl Association.
The Detroit Lions and Quick Lane, the two entities that run the bowl game at Ford Field, released a statement on Friday confirming the news.
“The Detroit Lions and Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center share in the great disappointment of not having a bowl game this season. We’ve collectively taken great pride in not only establishing a new collegiate bowl game tradition in Detroit, but also creating memorable experiences for student athletes. We are looking forward to doing both again in 2021 and seasons to come.”
The Quick Lane Bowl’s origins trace back to the Motor City Bowl, which started in 1997 at the Pontiac Silverdome. The game moved to Ford Field in 2002 and was renamed the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2009. When the Big Ten pulled out of the bowl game in 2013, the game ended, but the Lions announced it would host a bowl, which it had done the last six seasons.
A Mid-American Conference team has played in the southeast Michigan-based bowl in 20 of the 23 years. A Big Ten team has been in the game six different seasons.
Central Michigan has played in the game four different times, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan have both been there once. Michigan or Michigan State have not played in the game.
Pittsburgh defeated EMU in last season’s Quick Lane Bowl, 34-30.
ESPN unveiled the schedule for the 35 bowl games, many of which will be shown on the ESPN family of networks. The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will serve as the national semifinal games for the College Football Playoff. Both games will be played Jan. 1. The national title game will be Jan. 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Contact Kirkland Crawford: kcrawford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @HiKirkHere.