Little Caesars Pizza Bowl The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl ( known as the Motor City Bowl until 2009 ) is a post - season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually since 1997 . The first five games ( 1997 – 2001 ) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac , Michigan . Starting in 2002 , the game was moved to 65 , 000 - seat Ford Field in downtown Detroit , Michigan . Ford Field is home to the NFL ' s Detroit Lions , and played host to Super Bowl XL . The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl features a bowl - eligible team from the Mid - American Conference ( usually the winner of the MAC Championship Game , although that team is not required to accept the bid ; prior to the formation of the bowl the MAC champion earned an automatic bid to the Las Vegas Bowl ) playing a bowl - eligible team from the Big Ten Conference . If the Big Ten does not have an eligible team , the game will feature a team from the Sun Belt that meets the NCAA requirement of at least six wins . In the event that the Sun Belt does not have an available team , an at - large team can be chosen . The game was jointly sponsored by the " Big Three " automakers in Detroit from 1998 to 2007 ( Ford , General Motors and Chrysler ) . Starting with the 2008 game , Chrysler was replaced by the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights as a presenting sponsor . In 2009 , Little Caesars became the title sponsor of the game after General Motors and Chrysler reorganized under bankruptcy protection . Ford remained as a sponsor . In 2011 , Ford , General Motors , Chrysler and the UAW are committing $ 100 , 000 together to become the presenting sponsor of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field . Little Caesar Enterprises Inc . and its franchisees remain the title sponsor . With the help of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder , Detroit Mayor Dave Bing , Ford , General Motors and Little Caesars they hope to get the fifth Big Ten selection ( they currently have the eighth selection ) by petitioning the Big Ten Conference to allow it to get a higher pick before the current deal expires in 2014 . The then - named - Motor City Bowl marked the first bowl game held in the Detroit area since the Cherry Bowl in 1984 – 85 . It is the only Division I college bowl game played in the Midwest United States . A bowl record crowd of 60 , 624 fans witnessed the 2007 bowl game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Central Michigan Chippewas . The 2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl , played December 26 , 2009 , matched the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid - American Conference against the Marshall Thundering Herd of Conference USA . On April 12 , 2010 , it was announced that the Big Ten Conference has extended its affiliation with the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl ( Big Ten No . 8 ) through the 2013 season . Also the Sun Belt Conference and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl have agreed to a secondary tie - in that will allow a Sun Belt Conference team to play in the Detroit based game should the Big Ten Conference not have an available bowl - eligible team to play . The 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl game , the Big Ten did not have enough teams to fill the slot and the MAC champion Miami - Ohio chose to play in the GoDaddy . com Bowl ; the bowl chose the MAC ' s third place team , Toledo , and the Sun Belt ' s conference champion Florida International ; Florida International won giving the university its first ever bowl win . ESPN has televised the game since its inception .