International Bowl The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010 . During its run , it was the only post - season bowl game played outside the United States , the first such game since the Bacardi Bowl , played in Cuba on January 1 , 1937 . History . In 2004 , a partnership led by the city of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto , to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreak . The NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego , California , instead ; Toronto re - launched its bid in 2005 and was successful , playing its first game at the end of the 2006 season . The bowl signed agreements with two Division I conferences to provide teams : The Big East Conference , a BCS conference , and the Mid - American Conference . Both conferences are composed of schools in the American Midwest and Northeast , with the exception of Big East school South Florida . One Big East member , Cincinnati , is a former member of the MAC ( conversely , the MAC had one former Big East member during the game ' s tenure - Temple , who has since rejoined the Big East ) . The 2009 International Bowl was notable in that the Buffalo Bulls ( champions of the Mid - American Conference ) appeared in the first bowl game in the history of the school . The Bulls turned down their only other bowl invitation , the 1958 Tangerine Bowl , as the black players on the team were not going to be permitted to play . After the bowl could not renew its contract with the BCS member Big East Conference , officials decided to cease the contest . It was hoped that the bowl could be revived later on , but the Big East ' s contract with the new Pinstripe Bowl complicated matters . The MAC ' s tie in was inherited by the Humanitarian Bowl . In all four editions of the International Bowl , the Big East representative defeated the MAC representative , with only the first game decided by fewer than 18 points . Campbell Blake was the International Bowl ' s Director of Communications and Media Relations during the last two years of the game . Venue . The International Bowl was played at Rogers Centre , home to the Toronto Blue Jays , the Canadian Football League ' s Toronto Argonauts , multiple Canadian Interuniversity Sport ( CIS ) Vanier Cup s ( 1989 – 2003 , 2007 ) , and the part - time home of the Buffalo Bills ( 2008 – 2012 ) . It is also the first football game of significance to be played in Canada under American football rules since Simon Fraser University ' s football team left the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 2001 , and joined CIS , where Canadian universities play under Canadian football rules . ( Simon Fraser later left CIS to join NCAA Division II . ) Trophy . The winner of the International Bowl was presented with a trophy similar in design to the International Bowl logo . A Canadian maple leaf formed the back of the trophy , with a small crystal football set offset to the right . The name of the winning team was placed on a plaque attached to the lower part of the trophy . Television . ESPN carried the International Bowl across its family of networks for the entirety of the bowl ' s history . Since the game was in Canada , the network chose to use its Canadian - born commentators or ones that had some connection to Canadian football . Toronto native John Saunders called the game for its first three playings , while CFL Hall of Famer Doug Flutie was a color commentator three times and Nepean , Ontario native Jesse Palmer was there for two of the games . With the exception of the inaugural playing , a Canadian served as the sideline reporter ; Ontario natives Stacey Dales and David Amber were part of the festivities .