The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl
game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee,
since 1998. The first game was at Vanderbilt Stadium. Beginning in 1999,
the game has been played at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.
Beginning in 2002, the game became known as the Gaylord Hotels Music
City Bowl. In 2003, Bridgestone became the presenting sponsor of the
game. Both sponsors are based in Nashville. The game initially featured
a matchup between representatives of the Southeastern Conference and the
Big East Conference, but the Big East was replaced by the Big Ten
Conference effective in 2002. Beginning with the 2006 game, the Big Ten
Conference will be replaced by the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Previous sponsors of the bowl game have included American General Life &
Accident (now a subsidiary of AIG) in the inaugural 1998 game, and the
now-defunct "homepoint.com" in the 1999 game. There was no sponsor in
2000 and 2001.
