ATLANTA – The second invitation to the third annual Celebration Bowl – to be played on Saturday, Dec. 16, at noon ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta – has been extended to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) college football champion, Grambling State University. The Grambling Tigers defeated the Alcorn Braves 40-32 in Saturday’s SWAC Championship Game. Executive Director of the Celebration Bowl, John Grant, was on-site at in Houston and presented Grambling State University Coach Broderick Fobbs with the official invitation.
“Congratulations to SWAC champion Grambling State for punching their ticket to the Celebration Bowl for the second year in a row,” said Grant. “We are excited for the Tigers to join us in this historic match-up against the North Carolina A&T Aggies and see which team will win their second Celebration Bowl in the past three years!”
For three years straight, Grambling has faced Alcorn State in the SWAC’s title game, and for the second year in a row, the Tigers won the conference title and all bragging rights. Grambling has won 11 straight after a season opening loss at FBS Tulane, rising to #12 in final FCS coaches poll in the process. Looking back further, the Tigers have won 21 straight games vs. FCS opponents, including the 2016 Celebration Bowl vs. North Carolina Central. North Carolina A&T comes into the game undefeated with an 11-game win streak, which earned the Aggies a #7 ranking in the final FCS poll. The Aggies dominated the MEAC all season, earning 12 of 25 spots on the all-conference first teams.
Establishing itself as the first bowl game of the season, the Celebration Bowl is a postseason football game owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN. The game features the MEAC and SWAC champions and will be televised on ABC. ESPN Events collaborates with 100 Black Men of Atlanta to organize the game’s ancillary events which include a youth symposium, robotics showcase, gospel night, fan experience and more. North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 41-34 in the inaugural game in 2015. In last year’s game, Grambling State defeated North Carolina Central 10-9. The two games have had more than 66,000 combined fans cheering their teams and conferences on.
Fans can purchase tickets to the Celebration Bowl online at thecelebrationbowl.com or ticketmaster.com, or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. Prices range from $50 to $175 including taxes and fees. A full list of events surrounding the game is available on the event’s website.
Fans interested in ticket and hospitality packages for the Celebration Bowl can also purchase packages and resell tickets through PRIMESPORT, the Official Ticket Exchange and Gameday Experience Provider of the 2017 Celebration Bowl. As the Official Ticket Exchange and Gameday Experience Provider, PRIMESPORT offers packages for the ultimate game day experience. For more information, please visit PRIMESPORT.com.
For MEAC fans, a special rate of $106/night is being offered at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, and is available for December 15-16. Please visit the Celebration Bowl website for more details.
For SWAC fans, a special rate of $97/night is being offered at the Hilton Atlanta, and is available for December 15-16. Please visit the Celebration Bowl website for more details.
Additional hotel rooms are available at the Westin Peachtree Plaza for $99/night and the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Atlanta Downtown for $101/night. Please visit the Celebration Bowl website for more details.
ESPN Events
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 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.
ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.
Collegiate Football
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston); AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Florida); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); DXL Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Baton Rouge, La.); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan (Atlanta) and Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Collegiate Basketball
AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Ramstein Air Base, Germany); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Gildan Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s Classic presented by Corona (New York City); Jimmy V Women’s Classic presented by Corona (Hartford, Conn.); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); PK80 presented by State Farm (Portland, Ore.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off; State Farm Champions Classic (Chicago) and Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.)
For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.
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