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Papajohns.com Bowl
Papajohns.com Bowl logo
Stadium	Legion Field
Location	Birmingham, Alabama
Operated	2006 — present
Conference Tie-ins	Conference USA, Big East or MAC
Payout	US$300,000 (2006)
Sponsors
Papa John's Pizza (2006 — present)
Former names
Birmingham Bowl (2006)
2006 Matchup
East Carolina (Conference USA) vs. South Florida (Big East)

The Papajohns.com Bowl (formerly known as the Birmingham Bowl) is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game approved in April 2006 and played annually at the 71,594-seat Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. ESPN Regional Television (a subsidiary of ESPN) owns and manages the bowl's operations, sponsorships and marketing.^[1] The University of Alabama at Birmingham also provides marketing, management and game day operations support. Papa John's pizza became the title sponsor signing a multi-year agreement on November 16, 2006. ^[2]

The bowl has a four-year agreement with Conference USA to match a representative of that conference against an opponent from either the Big East Conference or the Mid-American Conference. The Big East and Mid-American conferences will provide a team in alternating years with the MAC supplying the 2007 participant. In the event that a qualifying team cannot be provided, either an Big East or an at-large team will be selected instead.

The game promotes Papa John's website.

Contents 1 History 2 Previous results 3 MVPs 4 References 5 External links 6 See also

The Papajohns.com Bowl marked the return of post-season football to the city of Birmingham. The Magic City previously hosted the Dixie Bowl from 1947-1948, the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977-1985 (relocated to Tampa, FL and now named the Outback Bowl), and the All-American Bowl from 1986-1990 (cancelled when the SEC awarded their championship game to the city).

In the inaugural game, played on December 23, 2006, the South Florida Bulls, the Big East's representative, beat Conference USA's East Carolina Pirates, 24-7 in front of an announced crowd of 32,023.^[3] Benjamin Williams scored the game's first points just over ninety seconds into the game as one of his two touchdowns on the day, and earned the game's MVP honors.

Date	Winning Team		Losing Team		Attendance
December 23, 2006	South Florida	24	ECU	7	32,023

Date	Name	School	Position
December 23, 2006	Benjamin Williams	South Florida	RB

1. ^ ESPN Regional Television to Own and Operate New PapaJohns.com Bowl Game (2006-05-09). Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
2. ^ PapaJohns.com Signs on as Title Sponsor of Inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl Game (2006-11-16). Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
3. ^ Solomon, Jon. "Cheers for Papajohns.com Bowl", The Birmingham News, 2006-12-24. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.

Official Papa John's Bowl Website

• List of college bowl games
• NCAA football bowl games, 2006-07

2006-07 Division I-A College football Bowl Game season
Poinsettia (Dec. 19) • Las Vegas (Dec. 21) • New Orleans (Dec. 22) • PapaJohns.com (Dec. 23) • New Mexico (Dec. 23) • Armed Forces (Dec. 23) • Hawai'i (Dec. 24) • Motor City (Dec. 26) • Emerald (Dec. 27) • Holiday (Dec. 28) • Independence (Dec. 28) • Texas (Dec. 28) • Music City (Dec. 29) • Sun (Dec. 29) • Liberty (Dec. 29) • Insight (Dec. 29) • Champs Sports (Dec. 29) • Meineke Car Care (Dec. 30) • Alamo (Dec. 30) • Chick-fil-A (Dec. 30) • MPC Computers (Dec. 31) • Outback (Jan. 1) • Cotton (Jan. 1) • Gator (Jan. 1) • Capital One (Jan. 1) • International (Jan. 6) • GMAC (Jan. 7)
Bowl Championship Series games: Rose Bowl (Jan. 1) Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 1) Orange Bowl (Jan. 2) Sugar Bowl (Jan. 3) BCS National Championship (Jan. 8)
All-Star Games: North-South All-Star Classic (Jan. 13) • Hula Bowl (Jan. 14) • Las Vegas All-American Classic (Jan. 15) • East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 20) • Senior Bowl (Jan. 27) • Texas vs. The Nation Game (Feb. 2)