Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville , Florida . Held continuously since 1946 , it is the sixth oldest college bowl , as well as the first one ever televised nationally . Since 1996 , it has been one of the bowl games that are regularly played on January 1 ( New Year ' s Day ) ; when New Year ' s Day falls on a Sunday , the game is then played on the following Monday . As of September 1 , 2011 , the current title sponsor is TaxSlayer . com . History . According to writer Anthony C . DiMarco , Charles Hilty , Sr . first conceived of the event . Hilty , together with Ray McCarthy , Maurice Cherry and W . C . Ivey put up $ 10 , 000 to underwrite the first game , which was held at Jacksonville ' s football stadium , Fairfield Stadium , on January 1 , 1946 . The first two years of the event did not sell out the small capacity stadium , drawing only 7 , 362 to the 1946 match when the Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks , 26 – 14 . The stadium was expanded in 1948 and renamed the Gator Bowl Stadium in honor of the event . However , it was not until the 1949 match - up between the Clemson Tigers and the Missouri Tigers that the future of the Gator Bowl was assured . The 1948 attendance of 16 , 666 for a 20 – 20 tie between Maryland and Georgia , was nearly doubled with 32 , 939 watching Clemson squeak by Missouri , 24 – 23 , on a late field goal by Jack Miller . By the 1970s , the attendance regularly reached 60 , 000 – 70 , 000 . Hotel Roosevelt fire . The Gator Bowl is one of Jacksonville ' s annual sports highlights . However , the event was once associated with a tragedy . In 1963 , the Hotel Roosevelt in downtown Jacksonville caught fire after a post - Gator Bowl party in the ballroom . It was later determined that the party was not the cause of the fire , and that the timing was a tragic coincidence . The fire resulted in 22 deaths . Woody Hayes incident in 1978 . In the 1978 game between Ohio State and Clemson , Ohio State coach Woody Hayes lost his temper after a late game interception by Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman , who stepped in front of the receiver on a pass from quarterback Art Schlichter . Bauman ran the ball out of bounds on the Ohio State sideline where Hayes struck Bauman with his right forearm . The play sealed the Tigers ' 17 – 15 win over the Buckeyes and Hayes was fired the next day before leaving Jacksonville . Venues . The 1946 and 1947 games were played in Fairfield Stadium , which had a seating capacity of 7 , 600 . The stadium was expanded to 16 , 000 seats in 1948 , and the structure was renamed the Gator Bowl . Prior to the 1949 game , the seating capacity was expanded to 36 , 058 , at which it remained until 1957 . That stadium hosted the game through 1993 , when it was almost completely demolished for the construction of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium ( now EverBank Field ) on the same site . During the construction , the 1994 Gator Bowl was played instead at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville , Florida ; the game following the 1995 season and all subsequent games were moved to January 1 . Organization . The game and associated activities are planned and executed by the Gator Bowl Association ( GBA ) , a not - for - profit , 501 ( c ) 3 organization , founded in 1945 , whose stated mission is to : " provide Northeast Florida with the very best in college athletics and related activities in order to maximize positive impact on the area ’ s economy , national image and community pride . " The association comprises 225 Gator Bowl Committee members , 84 Chairman ’ s Club members and sponsors , more than 700 volunteers , plus over a dozen paid staff members . In addition to the Gator Bowl , the GBA has also coordinated other events . It hosted the ACC Championship Game from 2005 to 2007 and the River City Showdown , a neutral site game between the Florida State Seminoles and another team , in 2007 and 2008 . Teams typically featured . In the early years of the bowl , from 1946 – 1952 , it featured a team from the Southern Conference against an at - large opponent . Beginning with the 1953 game , it switched to generally featuring a Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) team against an at - large opponent . From 1953 to the 1975 game , at least one SEC team appeared in 20 out of the 24 games , and in 3 of those games , both teams were from the SEC . The games from 1976 to 1995 usually , but not always , involved a team from southeastern United States against a team from another part of the country . Teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) played in 10 of these 20 games . From 1996 – 2006 , the Gator Bowl traditionally hosted the second - place ACC team against the second - place Big East Conference team . With the 2007 game , the ACC runner - up became contractually tied to play in the Chick - fil - A Bowl and the Gator Bowl began hosting the third - place ACC team versus a team from either the Big East ( still the conference ' s # 2 team unless they qualified for the Bowl Championship Series ) , the Big 12 Conference , or the unaffiliated Notre Dame Fighting Irish ( who would take the Big East ' s spot in this game ) . The contract , which ran for four years , was held in conjunction with the Sun Bowl , with the Gator Bowl receiving first choice of teams , and required both bowls to take Big East teams twice and Big 12 teams twice . Since the last two Gator Bowls featured the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Nebraska Cornhuskers , both Big 12 teams , a Big East team or Notre Dame would play in the 2010 Gator Bowl per the terms of the contract ( West Virginia lost to Florida State in this game ) . The conference alignment changed again in 2010 , as the Big East and Notre Dame are moving their hybrid arrangement to the Champs Sports Bowl for 2010 , while the Gator Bowl declined to renew their contract with the Big 12 . The Gator Bowl will feature the SEC and the Big Ten Conference starting with the 2010 season , joining the Capital One Bowl and the Outback Bowl as the third Big Ten - SEC bowl matchup on New Year ' s Day . The latest Gator Bowl matchup occurred January 1 , 2013 and featured the Northwestern University Wildcats and Mississippi State University . Of the 66 editions of the Gator Bowl , 38 have been between ranked opponents while 61 of the games have included at least one ranked team . Media coverage . The longtime broadcaster of the game was ABC , who would always show the game in prime time . Turner Sports bought the rights to the game after the 1991 match - up and TBS became the home of the Gator Bowl for the next four years , moving back to a late December date . The game returned to New Year ' s Day after NBC bought the rights to the Gator Bowl in 1996 . CBS Sports took over the television contract in 2007 and held the rights for four years . ESPN purchased the rights to the game following its 2010 playing and the 2011 Gator Bowl aired on ESPN2 ; with the acquisition of the Gator Bowl the ESPN family of networks became the home of every New Year ' s Day bowl game ( the network already had the rights to the Outback , Capital One , and Rose bowls and acquired the rights to the TicketCity Bowl and the remainder of the BCS games ) . Title sponsors . Mazda was the first title sponsor , beginning in 1986 and lasting for five years . Outback Steakhouse sponsored the Gator Bowl for three years beginning in 1992 , prior to obtaining their own Outback Bowl held in Tampa , Florida . From 1996 – 2006 , the title sponsor was Toyota . Konica Minolta then became the sponsor from 2007 to 2010 . On December 14 , 2010 , the Gator Bowl Association announced that Progressive Insurance would become the title sponsor for the 2011 Gator Bowl . On September 1 , 2011 , GBA announced a multi - year title sponsorship deal with TaxSlayer . com . Game results . " Italics denotes a tie game . " All rankings are taken from the AP Poll prior to the game being played . Gator Bowl Hall of Fame . Inductees by year :