- Simba French
- Oct 20, 2023
- 0
The HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl was set to make a return to The Bahamas for a ninth edition this year, kicking off the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season, but those plans have been derailed as the venue, the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, will be under extensive renovation.
The announcement was made by Vice President of ESPN Events Clint Overby yesterday
As mentioned in the statement, the temporary location will be announced later and the game is scheduled to return to The Bahamas in December 2024.
Initially, the game was set to be held on Saturday December 16, getting underway at 11 a.m. and carried live on ESPN.
This news came a little over a week after Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg revealed that they were going to do some extensive work to the stadium beginning on November 1.
“We have some serious work that is going to be starting on the stadium. I know we are in agreement with the Chinese government to commence some serious repairs, and that is supposed to start on November 1. Depending on when they come, along with the technocrats from the ministry of works, they will be able to determine that,” Bowleg said.
As for the nature of the work that is set to begin on the stadium, Bowleg said they will be completely shutting down the Western Grandstand.
The HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl game is played between a school in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and a member of Conference USA (C-USA). It is one of 17 bowl games that is owned and operated by ESPN Events.
Last year, there was a close game between the Conference USA’s University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Blazers and the MAC’s Miami University (Ohio) RedHawks. The Blazers won, 24-20, to lift the Prime Minister’s Trophy. The win gave the Blazers their second consecutive bowl win after they won the Independence Bowl in 2021.
In last year’s game, the Blazers’ defense made a key tackle to stop the RedHawks’ offense two yards shy of a touchdown as time expired. Blazers’ wide receiver Trea Shropshire tied the bowl record of 183 receiving yards that former Western Michigan receiver Corey Davis had in 2015.https://afdb5a62455df4dc0989fe7317a25c9d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
The 2023 National Football League (NFL) Draft was in April and Blazers’ running back DeWayne McBride was drafted in the seventh round at pick 222 by the Minnesota Vikings. RedHawks’ wide receiver Mac Hippenhammer agreed to terms on a mini-camp invite with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders won in 2021, the University at Buffalo in 2019, Florida International University (FIU) in 2018, the RedHawks in 2017, Old Dominion in 2016, Western Michigan in 2015 and Western Kentucky in 2014. The game was not held in 2020 due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
HomeTown Lenders is in its second year as the title sponsor of the game.