Detroit’s bowl game canceled after 29 years 

Another bowl game has bit the dust. The GameAbove Sports Bowl is folding, sources told On3. The cancellation of the GameAbove Sports Bowl ends a 29-year bowl run at Detroit’s Ford Field and the Pontiac Silverdome.

It is the third bowl game to be canceled in the past year.

The Detroit bowl had been anchored by a MAC school. Since 2020, the Big Ten was tied in with the game and the ACC from 2014-19.

The GameAbove Sports Bowl was the latest title sponsor for the Detroit bowl. GameAbove Sports was the title sponsor only for the past two seasons. The bowl debuted as the Motor City Bowl in 1997 and was played in the Pontiac Silverdome, home of the Detroit Lions. The bowl name changed to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2009 and then the Quick Lane Bowl in 2014, until it became the GameAbove Sports Bowl in 2024.

The bowl was moved to Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, in 2002.

Northwestern defeated Central Michigan 34-7 in the final GameAbove Sports Bowl in December. A MAC team had played in Detroit’s bowl in eight of the past 11 seasons.

Central Michigan made the most all-time appearances with six, followed by Marshall and Toledo with five each, Bowling Green with four and Minnesota and Pitt with three appearances each.

The Detroit bowl is the third bowl to fold in the last year along with the LA Bowl and Bahamas Bowl. Like the GameAbove Sports Bowl, the LA Bowl was held at an NFL venue and operated by an NFL franchise. The Bahamas Bowl was canceled before last season, but replaced by the XBox Bowl in Frisco, Texas, in the 2025 season.