Champs Sports Bowl

The game was originally organized by Raycom Sports in the summer of 1990. Organizers were looking to add a second bowl game to the popular Miami area (alongside the Orange Bowl). At the time, the Orange Bowl was still being played at the Miami Orange Bowl. Game organizers were looking to host the game, however, at the newer Joe Robbie Stadium. Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga soon joined forces and brought in Blockbuster as title sponsor.The inaugural game was a smash success, pitting Florida State and Penn State, and two legendary coaches, Bobby Bowden versus Joe Paterno in front of over 74,000 at Joe Robbie Stadium. Subsequent games, however, never matched the success of the first, despite a short tenure on New Year's Day. For two years (1993-1994), both the Blockbuster Bowl and the Orange Bowl were played on the same day (January 1), only miles apart. In 1996, the Orange Bowl moved into modern Pro Player Stadium, and what was now being call the Carquest Bowl lost its short-lived, and coveted, New Year's Day slot.

Since 2001, the bowl has been operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Capital One Bowl and Florida Classic. FCS took over the game, moved it to Orlando, to give the city two bowl games, and initially utilized the monikor of Tangerine Bowl, bringing back the "Tangerine Bowl" name which had been associated with Orlando previously for decades.

Since the 2006 football season, the bowl has matched up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Since 2004, Champs Sports, a division of Foot Locker, has sponsored the event. Under the terms of a television deal signed with ESPN in 2006, the bowl will be held after Christmas Day from 2006–2009, and be shown on ESPN in prime time. The change was made to move the game from the less-desirable pre-Christmas date utilized from 2001–2004.

Before gaining Blockbuster Entertainment as the corporate sponsor for the inaugural event, the game was tentatively referred to as the Sunshine Classic.