Montgomery, the 8th annual Camellia Bowl is Dec 25—everything you need to know

Give the gift of football this Christmas! Next Saturday, Ball State will take on Georgia State at the Camellia Bowl. Find out more here.

The Tax Act Camellia Bowl

Camellia Bowl, named after Alabama’s state flower, is a post-season football game operated by ESPN Events. The match-up comes from the Sun Belt Conference and the Mid American Conference. Televised on ESPN+, the game has featured teams like South Alabama, Appalachian State, Arkansas, Ohio and Middle Tennessee.

According to Kay McCreery, director of Montgomery parks and recreation, the Camellia Bowl has generated $17 million on average to the city of Montgomery. The average attendance for the bowl is over 20,000. This gives Montgomery a significant amount of revenue as fans travel from all over to watch the game.

The Setting: The Historic Cramton Bowl

It’s called the historic Cramton Bowl for a reason. The Cramton Bowl was the host of the first football game under the lights in the south in 1927. The first game between Cloverdale High and Pike High drew over 7,000 fans. Since then the historic Cramton Bowl has hosted football games for Alabama State University, Faulkner University and even the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide played all of their home games in the state’s capital from 1922-1932. In 2014 it became home to a new tradition the Camellia Bowl.

The Match-Up

Selected for this year’s Camellia Bowl is the Ball State Cardinals and Georgia State Panthers. The Cardinals enter the bowl on a one game win streak. While the Panthers enter the bowl on a three game win streak.

The Panthers have had four bowl appearances in the past five seasons since being under head coach Shawn Elliot. Elliot is looking to win his third bowl game and make history for the Georgia State football program. Head coach for the Cardinals, Mike Neu, is looking to clinch his second bowl win after defeating San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl game in 2020.

This will be the third time the teams meet each other. The series is split 1-1, as Georgia State won 31-19 in 2015 and Ball State won 31-21 in 2016.

The Countdown til’ Kick-Off

Head Coaches Mike Neu And Shawn Elliot
Head coach Shawn Elliot and Mike Neu. Photo via the Camellia Bowl Instagram

Catch kick-off on ESPN+

The Camellia Bowl will also have a corporate tailgate that will be in the game-day fan zone at Patterson field across from the Cramton Bowl. There are three different packages offered which all include tents, tables, reserved seating and parking passes.

Visit the website.

Looking for activities to do after the game? Be sure to check out these spots!

Will you be attending the Camellia Bowl? Let us know by tagging @TheBamaBuzz on Instagram!

Jayla Brown
Jayla Brown
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