Did You Know…

The Chick-fil-A Bowl is one of America’s best bowl games at providing a memorable and exciting bowl experience for the student-athletes, coaches and fans of its participating teams. Did you know…

1. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the ninth-oldest bowl game in the history of college football AND the oldest ACC vs. SEC match-up in the bowl business?
   
   
2. The Chick-fil-A Bowl created and hosted, with partners Chick-fil-A and ABC/ ESPN, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to start the 2008 season? No. 9 Clemson and No. 24 Alabama was the prime-time game on ABC and drew a sold-out crowd and an appearance by ESPN’s College GameDay. This year, top-10 powers No. 5 Alabama and No. 7 Virginia Tech appeared in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game for their season opener. The game again aired nationally on ABC and drew a second straight appearance by ESPN’s College GameDay.
   
   
3. Each April, the Chick-fil-A Bowl hosts the Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge golf event? This three-day golf and resort experience features NCAA head coaches and celebrity alumni from around the country competing against their rivals for scholarship money. This year the event provided $500,000 in scholarship and charitable donations.
   
   
4. When Georgia upset No. 14 Virginia Tech in 2006, the Chick-fil-A Bowl set the then-all-time attendance record for a sporting event in the Georgia Dome with 75,406 fans in attendance? That’s a bigger crowd than two Super Bowls and all the SEC Football Championship games at that time.
   
   
5. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is one of the most competitive bowl games in college football history with an average margin of victory of 8.7 points over the last 25 years? Over its 41-year history, the Bowl has recorded 12 games decided by a field goal or less and four one-point games.
   
   
6. The 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl marked the 12th consecutive sellout, and the 15th in 17 years at the Georgia Dome? Over the last 10 years, the Chick-fil-A Bowl ranks second in average attendance among all non-BCS bowl games – 71,840 per game.
   
   
7. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has disbursed $5.8 million in charitable and scholarship contributions in the last eight years? The Chick-fil-A Bowl again gave an all-time high $1.2 million to organizations in need in 2009 – ranking the Bowl first in giving among all bowl games.
   
   
8. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has disbursed more than $46.3 million in team payouts over the last 10 years? The Chick-fil-A Bowl has paid out $90.86 million in its 41-year history, ranking it 7th in cumulative payout among all bowl games.
   
   
9. The Chick-fil-A Bowl generates $30-35 million in economic impact for metro Atlanta each year? In 2003, the Bowl recorded a record-high $35.8 million economic impact in Atlanta, eclipsing the NBA All-Star Game, NCAA Women’s Final Four and the SEC Football Championship game.
   
   
10. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has more than 450 volunteers that give of their time to ensure a great Bowl Week experience for our teams and fans? Several volunteers have been with the Bowl more than 30 years.