The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only by the Rose Bowl Game.
The Sugar Bowl was originally played at Tulane Stadium before moving to the Superdome in 1975. When the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due to both the winds from and the flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sugar Bowl was temporarily moved to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in 2006. Since 2007, the game has been sponsored by Allstate and officially known as the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Previous sponsors include Nokia (1996–2006) and USF&G Financial Services (1988–1995).
The Sugar Bowl has had a longstanding relationship with the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Through 91 editions, only 12 games have not featured a representative from the SEC. The SEC's opponent varied from year to year, but prior to the advent of the Bowl Coalition, it was often a member of the Big Eight, the SWC, or a major independent. The first edition with a formal tie-in with the SEC champion was January 1977. Starting in 2015, the Sugar Bowl also established a relationship with the Big 12 Conference.
Beginning in 1992, the Sugar Bowl joined with several other bowls to create the Bowl Coalition in an effort to produce an undisputed national champion in college football. It subsequently was part of the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Championship Series. From 1993 to 2006, the Sugar Bowl served as the national championship game of these systems in 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004. The Superdome and the Sugar Bowl Committee hosted the BCS National Championship Game in 2008 and 2012, in addition to the regular Sugar Bowl game.
In 2014, the Sugar Bowl, along with the "New Year's Six" bowls, became a part of the College Football Playoff. As part of the four team playoff from 2014 to 2023, the Sugar Bowl served as a semifinal game in 2015, 2018, and 2021. When not serving as a semifinal, the Sugar Bowl featured the best available teams from SEC and the Big 12 conferences.
With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to twelve teams in the 2024–25 season, the Sugar Bowl will serve as either a quarterfinal or semifinal each year. It served as a quarterfinal in 2025 and will do so again in 2026. When serving as a quarterfinal, the Sugar Bowl hosted the higher-seeded SEC or Big 12 champion, if seeded in the top four. Beginning with the 2027 edition, the Sugar Bowl no longer has conference tie-ins.
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History
In 1890, Pasadena, California, held its first Tournament of Roses Parade to showcase the city's mild weather compared to the harsh winters in northern cities. As one of the organizers said: "In New York, people are buried in snow. Here, our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear [fruit]. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise." In 1902, the annual festival was enhanced by adding a football game.
In 1926, leaders in Miami, Florida, decided to do the same with a "Fiesta of the American Tropics" that was centered around a New Year's Day football game. Although a second "Fiesta" was never held, Miami leaders later revived the idea with the "Palm Festival" (with the slogan "Have a Green Christmas in Miami"). The football game and associated festivities of the Palm Festival were soon named the "Orange Bowl."
In New Orleans, Louisiana, the idea of a New Year's Day football game was first presented in 1927 by Colonel James M. Thomson, publisher of the New Orleans Item, and Sports Editor Fred Digby. Every year thereafter, Digby repeated calls for action, and even came up with the name "Sugar Bowl" for his proposed football game.
By 1935, enough support had been garnered for the first Sugar Bowl. The game was played in Tulane Stadium, which had been built in 1926 on Tulane University's campus (before 1871, Tulane's campus was Paul Foucher's plantation, where Foucher's father-in-law, Etienne de Bore, had first granulated sugar from cane syrup). Warren V. Miller, the first president of the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association, guided the Sugar Bowl through its difficult formative years of 1934 and 1935. An unusual 2–0 score marked the 1942 Sugar Bowl, in which the sole scoring play was a safety.
In January 1956, Bobby Grier became the first black player to participate in the Sugar Bowl. He is also regarded as the first black player to compete at a bowl game in the Deep South, though others had played in bowls elsewhere, such as Wallace Triplett in the 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas. Grier's team, the Pittsburgh Panthers, was set to play against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. However, Georgia's governor Marvin Griffin beseeched Georgia Tech to not participate in this racially integrated game. Griffin was widely criticized by news media leading up to the game, and protests were held at his mansion by Georgia Tech students. Despite the governor's objections, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer upheld the contract after he threatened to resign and the board of regents voted in his favor to compete in the bowl. In the game's first quarter, a pass interference call against Grier ultimately resulted in Yellow Jackets' 7–0 victory. Grier stated that he has mostly positive memories about the experience, including the support from teammates and letters from all over the world.
Game results
All rankings are taken from the AP poll (inaugurated in 1936), before each game was played. Italics denote a tie game.
Source:
^BC Denotes Bowl Coalition Championship game
^BA Denotes Bowl Alliance Championship game
^BCS Denotes BCS National Championship Game
^QF Denotes College Football Playoff quarterfinal game
^SF Denotes College Football Playoff semifinal game
Most Outstanding Players (Miller-Digby Award)
The Miller-Digby Award is presented to the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) in the Sugar Bowl, as voted by sports journalists covering the game. The award was initially established in 1948 following the death of Warren V. Miller, the first president of the Bowl; it was renamed the Miller-Digby Memorial Trophy in 1959, to also honor Fred J. Digby, the first general manager and fellow founding member of the Bowl.
When the Sugar Bowl acts as a CFP semifinal or quarterfinal, both an offensive and defensive MVP are named.
† Terrelle Pryor was later ruled ineligible and his statistics for the 2010 season, including the 2011 Sugar Bowl, were vacated.
Most appearances
Updated through the January 2026 edition (92 games, 184 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances
‡ Ohio State's win–loss record excludes its vacated victory in the January 2011 game.
Teams with a single appearance
Won (9): Boston College, Duke, Fordham, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Navy, Utah, Washington
Lost (11): Air Force, Carnegie Tech, Cincinnati, Hawai'i, Illinois, Kansas State, Rice, Saint Mary's (CA), Temple, Virginia, Wyoming
Conference participation (as of the 2024 season)
Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are the only current SEC members that have not appeared in the Sugar Bowl. Former members Georgia Tech and Tulane also appeared in the Sugar Bowl while in the SEC, although former member Sewanee did not.
BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and UCF are the only current or former Big Eight or Big 12 members that have not appeared in the Sugar Bowl.
Texas Tech, Houston and SMU are the only former Southwest Conference members that have not played in the Sugar Bowl.
Appearances by conference
Updated through the January 2026 edition (92 games, 184 total appearances).
‡ The Big Ten's win–loss record and winning percentage exclude Ohio State's vacated victory of 2011.
Games were played in the calendar year listed; in December if marked with an superscript D (such as 1972D), else in January.
Conferences that are defunct or not currently active in FBS are marked in italics.
Records reflect each team's conference affiliation at the time the game was played.
Big Eight records include games when the conference was known as the Big Six or Big Seven.
The American Conference retains the charter of the original Big East, following its 2013 realignment.
Independent appearances: Air Force (1971), Boston College (1941), Carnegie Tech (1939), Florida State (1989), Fordham (1942), Miami (Florida) (1986, 1990), Navy (1955), Notre Dame (Dec. 1973, 1981, 1992, 2007, 2025), Penn State (Dec. 1972, Dec. 1975, 1979, 1983), Pittsburgh (1956, 1977, 1982), Saint Mary's (California) (1946), Santa Clara (1937, 1938), Syracuse (1965, 1988), and Temple (1935).
Four games have been contested between two SEC teams: 1953, 1960, 1964, and 2026.
Game records
Source:
Broadcasting
From 1999 to 2006, the game aired on ABC as part of its BCS package, where it had also been televised from 1969 through 1998. The Sugar Bowl was the only Bowl Alliance game to stick with ABC following the 1995, 1996 and 1997 seasons; the Fiesta and Orange Bowls were televised by CBS. Prior to that, NBC aired the game for several years. From 2006 to 2010, Fox broadcast the game, while ESPN picked up the Sugar Bowl after picking up the rest of the BCS beginning in the 2009–10 season. For 2013, ESPN Deportes introduced a Spanish language telecast of the game.
In November 2012, ESPN announced that it had reached a deal to maintain broadcast rights to the Sugar Bowl through 2026. ESPN pays $55 million yearly to broadcast the game beginning in the 2014–15 season under the new contract, which took effect upon the establishment of the College Football Playoff. ESPN made a similar deal to maintain broadcast rights to the Orange Bowl following the discontinuation of the BCS as well.