Cure Bowl looks to return to Camping World Stadium

The StaffDNA Cure Bowl is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and the college football bowl game is returning to its original location.

The Orlando Sports Foundation , which manages the Cure Bowl, is finalizing a deal to bring the game back to Camping World Stadium . This would be the third time the game has been hosted at the downtown venue, following hosting in 2015-18 and ’20.

“Camping World Stadium is a great neutral-site stadium,” said Alan Gooch , executive director of the Cure Bowl. “So, we’re going back to where it all began.”

Since its inception nine years ago, the Cure Bowl has raised awareness about breast cancer. It has raised approximately $4.14 million, with more than $1.63 million going to Dr. Annette Khaled, a professor at UCF College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Science.

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The game features teams from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West and Independents. It is one of three bowl games played in Orlando, along with the Pop-Tarts and Cheez-It Citrus bowls.

Orlando City Soccer’s Inter&Co Stadium also hosted the game in ’19 and ’21-22.

UCF’s FBC Mortgage Stadium hosted the game last season as Appalachian State held on for a rain-soaked 13-9 win against Miami (Ohio). Still, scheduling conflicts forced organizers to look elsewhere for this year’s host site.

Under the new 12-team College Football Playoff, first-round games would occur at home venues.

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If UCF were to host a first-round matchup, it would occur Dec. 20 or 21. This would conflict with the Cure Bowl, which is set to kick off Dec. 20 at noon on ESPN.

“We were trying to find a way, but we certainly would love to see UCF host a playoff game,” said Gooch, who played defensive back for the Knights before serving on the coaching staff from 1983-2003. “We wouldn’t like it to be on Friday, Dec. 20, but maybe Saturday.”

Another challenge in keeping the game at UCF was the impending expansion of the Roth Tower , which is connected to FBC Mortgage Stadium. Construction is set to begin at the end of this college football season.

“Because of that and the possible playoff opportunities, I think in the long run, it makes more sense for us, the Orlando Sports Foundation and the Cure Bowl, to be at Camping World Stadium,” said Gooch.

The Cure Bowl isn’t the only postseason bowl game played at multiple venues, but it’s the first to be played in three different venues in the same county.

The Guaranteed Rate Bowl began at Arizona Stadium (1989-99) before moving to Chase Field (2000-05, ’16-19), Sun Devil Stadium (’06-15) and State Farm Stadium (’20-present).

The St. Pete/Gasparilla Bowl started at Tropicana Field (’08-17) before moving to Raymond James Stadium (’18-19, ’21-present). The game was played at FAU Stadium in ’20 because of COVID-19 scheduling conflicts.

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com