The America's Crossroads Bowl is an annual American

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

held at Brickyard Stadium in

Hobart, Indiana Hobart ( , ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,752 at the 2020 census, up from 29,059 in 2010. It has been historically primarily residential, though recent annexation has added a notable retail corridor to ...

. The game operates as a partnership between the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, and the city of

. Currently, the America's Crossroads Bowl is one of two Division II sanctioned bowl games, along with the Heritage Bowl. The top-placing teams from the GLVC and G-MAC not qualifying for the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs receive an invitation to compete.

History

The creation of America's Crossroads Bowl was announced in April 2019, at a joint press conference including officials of the GLVC, the G-MAC, the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, and the city of Hobart. In the seasons prior to the creation of the bowl, neither the GLVC nor the G-MAC had ever sent more than one team to the Division II playoffs, and it was assumed the game would match the second-place finishers of the two conferences. For the G-MAC, this has been the case for every game thus far, with the conference sending a team finishing the season in second (or a second-place tie) behind the conference's lone Division II playoff qualifier. The GLVC sent third-place Truman State as its representative to the inaugural game, because Lindenwood and

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

both qualified for the Division II playoffs in 2019, After the 2020 game was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, Truman State once again represented the GLVC in 2021 as a third-place team, when Lindenwood qualified for the playoffs and Indianapolis declined the bowl bid. Starting in 2022, the GLVC, like the G-MAC, has sent a team finishing in second place or in a second-place tie. Since 2023, the GLVC has made the game optional for the previous year's participant. The game is played on the afternoon of the first Saturday in December, the most common date for NCAA Division II bowl games. The only exception was the 2023 contest, which was played as a night game on the first Friday in December. That game was also played at Hammond Central High School Stadium in

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. Located along Lake Michigan, it is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the Li ...

, rather than in Hobart. The 2022 game brought an estimated $200,000 in economic impact to the Hobart area. The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority anticipated an economic impact of "at least $240,000" from the 2023 game in Hammond.

A Unique Trophy

In addition to the official America's Crossroads Bowl trophy awarded to the winning team, a replica of the leg lamp from the classic holiday film ''

A Christmas Story ''A Christmas Story'' is a 1983 Christmas comedy film directed by Bob Clark and based on the 1966 book '' In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'' by Jean Shepherd, with some elements from his 1971 book ''Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories ...

'' (1983) serves as a traveling trophy held by the conference office of the winning team. The setting for ''A Christmas Story''--the fictional northwest Indiana town of Hohman--is based on Hammond, the real-life hometown of its author, humorist

Jean Shepherd Jean Parker "Shep" Shepherd Jr. (July 26, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storytelling, storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film ''A Christm ...

Game results

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division II bowl game navbox College football bowls NCAA Division II football American football in Indiana