TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl has been cancelled

The 15th annual Birmingham Bowl college football game, which was scheduled to take place at Legion Field on Friday, January 1, 2021, has been cancelled.

The game — sponsored by TicketSmarter and owned by ESPN — became “one of the casualties of COVID-19,” said Birmingham City Council President William Parker at a media event on Sunday.

The problem is that there are not enough college teams available to play in all the bowl games that were scheduled this season.

“You’ve seen a number of bowl games around the country being cancelled,” Parker said.

“As the inventory of available teams lessened, our ability to stage the game was compromised,” said Mark Meadows, the event’s executive director, in a news release on Sunday, Dec. 20. “We will direct our focus to next year’s bowl, and look forward to staging the game in the 2021 season.”

Parker had planned to host a watch party on Sunday afternoon when the teams taking part in the game were to be announced. However, the event turned into a discussion of the cancellation.

Parker said that he was disappointed about the game being scrubbed. “It is a sad day,” he said.

However, he remained optimistic about the future of the event.

“I’m looking forward to next year with an even better Birmingham Bowl and the great partnership we have with the host committee and ESPN,” he said.

To watch a video of Parker's press conference, click here. 

For more information, go to ticketsmarterbirminghambowl.com.