Annual college bowl game at Detroit's Ford Field canceled after 29 years
The GameAbove Sports Bowl, which is hosted annually by Ford Field, will be canceled ahead of the 2026 season, the venue announced on Tuesday.
"We can confirm that we will not host a bowl game at Ford Field in 2026. With the end of our current naming rights partnership, we felt this was the right time to adjust our focus to invest in sports at all levels and other entertainment events," Ford Field said in a statement posted on social media. "We would like to thank everyone who made the bowl game a success, especially you the fans."
It is unclear if Detroit will host another bowl game this year. The game typically featured a team from the Mid-American Conference against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference from 2014 to 2019 and a team from the Big Ten Conference from 2020 to 2025.
The nearly three-decade history of the annual bowl game in Metro Detroit dates back to 1997, when it was called the Motor City Bowl and was hosted at the Silverdome in Pontiac. It was the first bowl game at the Silverdome since the Cherry Bowl in the mid-80s.
The game's location was moved to Ford Field in 2002, seven years before it rebranded as the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2009. It was renamed in 2013 as the Quick Lane Bowl until it changed to the GameAbove Sports Bowl in 2024.
The Detroit Lions have operated the annual bowl game since 2014.
The last game was played in December 2025, when Central Michigan fell to Northwestern, 34-7.