Today in Atlanta Chick-fil-A announced they are putting the “peach” back in the Peach Bowl. Well, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, at least. That’s right, the Peach Bowl is back, and it is ready to host some playoff college football!
The Peach Bowl will host a semifinal game in the 2016 season and will be the host site for a semifinal game every three years. The organizers behind the game are already preparing a bid to host the 2017 National Championship Game in the new stadium to host the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. Hosting an event of this magnitude in the first year of a brand new stadium may not be what the committee desires, so the 2018 season may be the more viable option in play in Atlanta. Whatever year you want to work with, playoff college football in Atlanta just makes too much sense not to happen.
The game never left of course, but in a college football world where the TaxSlayer.com Bowl is a real thing at a time when we are told the most important thing about the bowl system is the experience it presents to student-athletes, it is somewhat refreshing to see one corporate giant of a sponsor allow a game to return to its roots.
“This not only represents the beginning of our new era in the College Football Playoff, but a reconnection to our history and tradition by bringing the peach back into our name,” Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl president and CEO said in a released statement. “Chick-fil-A’s agreement with ESPN and the Bowl allows us to continue a 17-year relationship regarded as one of the most successful in the industry.”
The Peach Bowl may not be the Rose, Sugar, Orange or Fiesta Bowl, but it deserves to be put in the same boat as the Cotton Bowl. Played in the college capital of the world, Atlanta, the Peach Bowl has been around since 1968. Chick-fil-A has been the title sponsor for the bowl since 1998, which led to the renaming of the bowl game to drop the “Peach” in 2006.
With the new, yet old, name, the game also has an updated logo. Say hello to what I will now refer to as Metal Peach.
While bringing back the peach is a nice start, here’s hoping the logo later sees some peach colorization on the fruit logo. For the sake of comparison, here is a look at past logos for the bowl game…
What do you think about the game reverting to the Peach Bowl or the new logo?
