The Cricket Celebration Bowl is a postseason bowl game pitting the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion.
The inaugural game took place Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and was televised on ABC. The North Carolina A&T Aggies defeated the Alcorn State Braves 41-34. In 2016, the Grambling State Tigers defeated the North Carolina Central Eagles 10-9. The game was seen by a bowl record 2.7 million viewers on ABC as well as military members from over 140 countries on the Armed Forces Network.
In 2017, the venue shifted to the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which continues to host one of the stadium’s prominent annual major events.
The Cricket Celebration Bowl was launched in 2015.
The Cricket Celebration Bowl has partnered with the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau to provide discounted hotel accommodations near Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Detailed information is available on our Official Event Hotels page.
The city of Atlanta is a wonderful travel destination. It is geographically situated between both conferences, allowing for a wide pool of HBCU fans to attend the Cricket Celebration Bowl. Atlanta serves as a hub for HBCU alumni to gather, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium is ‘not just a stadium — it’s a destination.
Not all events around the game are open to the public. A full schedule of events can be found here.
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 375-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 800,000 attendees each year.
For more information, visit the official ESPN Events website.
