The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE domino effect of the coronavirus pandemic on international sports in the country continue to fall as ESPN has announced that they are moving the Bahamas Bowl from the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium this year.

ESPN Events announced last week that they will be canceling the Bahamas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl from its list of 17 postseason college football games for the 2020 season. The Bahamas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl, which were both set to be played in December, have been cancelled due to the current health pandemic and travel restrictions.

“We are disappointed that we aren’t able to stage events at these premier destinations this year,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming & ESPN Events. “We are committed to bringing both games back in 2021, and we thank our conference partners, sponsors and the local communities for their ongoing support and understanding.”

More details surrounding the bowl game that is played between representatives from the Mid-American Conference and Conference USA, are forthcoming, according to ESPN Events.

Dubbed “Bowl Games are Better in the Bahamas” since it was first brought to the Bahamas, Atlantis Resort and the TAR Stadium in 2014 with the Ministry of Tourism throwing a lot of the government’s support behind the organisers.

A year later, the Bahamas Bowl was enhanced as ESPN Events came on board and carried its first international college bowl game live, giving it student-athletes, conference partners, alumni, fans and sponsors a first -class experience from one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the world.

Plans, however, are already underway for the seventh edition of the bowl game in 2021.

The Mid-American Conference and Conference USA will once again offer the two participating teams for the showdown, as they have done previously with the six other games as organizers have vowed to capture the imagination of the Bahamians and visiting college football fans once they have gotten past the coronavirus pandemic.

Before the pandemic halted play this year, the Bahamas Bowl drew a lot of post achievements for a few of the teams. Both of the first two winners of the bowl - WKI in 2014 and Western Michigan in 2015 - went on to win their respective conference titles the following seasons.

Western Michigan also participated in a New Year’s Six bowl after an undefeated season in 2016. And UAB, the Bahamas Bowl runner-up in 2017, won the Conference USA title in 2018.

This year’s Bahama Bowl cancellation comes on the heels of the prestigious Battle 4 Atlantis and the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase both being moved from the Bahamas and heading to Sanford Pentagon (arena) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota due to the fact that Atlantis remains close as the country try to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Like the Bahama Bowl, the Battle 4 Atlantis, which was introduced to the Bahamas in 2011, hope to make a return to The Bahamas in 2021 after being staged in the United States for the first time this year.

The field for the 2021 edition of the tournament was recently revealed featuring several returning programmes. The UConn Huskies (American Athletic Conference) will make their third tournament appearance while the Syracuse Orange (ACC), Michigan State Spartans (Big 10), and Virginia Commonwealth Rams (A10) will make their second appearance.

The remainder of the field includes the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12), Arizona State Sun Devils (PAC 12), Auburn Tigers (SEC) and Loyola-Chicago Ramblers (Missouri Valley Conference) making their B4A debut in the 2021 field.

The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase for women’s collegiate teams was set to enter its fourth edition. It will now be played in Naples, Florida this year. The first two editions of the tournament were hosted in 2017 and 2018 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium before it was shifted to the Baha Mar Resort in 2019.