Detroit becomes latest college football bowl game to shut down

The GameAbove Sports Bowl, a fixture in Detroit's college football scene for nearly 30 years, is shutting down, as reported on February 10. This marks the third bowl game to end within a year, following the closures of the LA Bowl and the Bahamas Bowl. Originally known as the Motor City Bowl since its inception in 1997, the GameAbove Sports Bowl was held annually at Ford Field and featured a Mid-American Conference team and a program from either the ACC or Big Ten in recent years. The final game saw Northwestern defeat Central Michigan 34-7.

Despite the growing irrelevance of lower-tier bowls due to the College Football Playoff, these games remain valuable for television networks. ESPN's coverage of 33 non-College Football Playoff bowl games averaged 3.1 million viewers, an increase of 13% from the previous year. The final GameAbove Sports Bowl attracted a peak viewership of 2.7 million. However, the bowl struggled with attendance, recording