Saturday’s Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium has been canceled after organizers could not find a replacement team for South Carolina.
The matchup — the 2-8 Gamecocks against Conference USA champion Alabama Birmingham —was announced Sunday evening. Less than 48 hours later, South Carolina pulled out.
“(Between) members of the coaching staff and student-athletes, COVID and contact tracing has taken a toll too high for us to overcome,” Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner said in a statement.
ESPN Events, which owns and operates the bowl game, tried to find another opponent for the Blazers. There wasn’t one.
Although every team was eligible to play in a bowl this year, at least 20 that were announced declined to participate. Tennessee and South Carolina accepted invitations but backed out.
“The current environment has presented many challenges,” bowl executive director Scott Glaser said. “We looked into a number of options for UAB but ultimately could not identify any opportunities for them to play at this time. We are appreciative of the many supporters in the community, including our new title sponsor — Union Home Mortgage, and look forward to staging the game in 2021.”
The Gasparilla Bowl is at least the fifth game to be called off this year because of a lack of available teams. Others were the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md., the Birmingham Bowl and the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
The Gasparilla Bowl, under many different names, has been played in the area annually since 2008. It moved from Tropicana Field to Tampa in 2018.
Tampa’s other college football game, the Outback Bowl, is still scheduled for Jan. 2 at Raymond James Stadium. Ole Miss is set to face Indiana.
