Cure Bowl to return to UCF’s Bounce House; dates set for Pop-Tarts, Citrus bowls
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The StaffDNA Cure Bowl is returning to UCF’s Acrisure Bounce House Stadium.
An agreement is still pending approval from the UCF Board of Trustees, but that is expected in the near future, according to a source. ESPN Events and the Orlando Sports Foundation oversee the game.
The game is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.
The announcement came as part of ESPN’s 2026-27 football bowl schedule release on Wednesday.
It’s the second time the postseason game has been played at the Bounce House, with the first coming in 2023, when Appalachian State came away with a 13-9 win over Miami of Ohio in a rain-soaked contest in front of close to 12,000 fans.
The Cure Bowl began in 2015 with a mission to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer research through UCF’s College of Medicine, spearheaded by Dr. Annette Khaled of UCF’s Cancer Research Center.
The game can include teams from the Sun Belt, the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.
The 45,000-seat Bounce House is undergoing a nearly $100 million renovation of Roth Tower, which would expand the tower structure by approximately 58,000 square feet, with nearly 16,000 square feet dedicated to premium club space.
The project, expected to be completed before the start of the upcoming football season, will help the school generate an estimated $2.4 million in additional annual revenue.
UCF officials have long pushed the idea of using the stadium for other events outside of the Knights’ football games. The venue has previously hosted the Cure Bowl and the Hula Bowl to generate additional revenue for the athletic department.
The Cure Bowl previously played its games at Camping World Stadium (2014-18, 2020 and 2024-25) and Inter&Co Stadium (2019, 2021-22).
Meanwhile, there are some changes to Orlando’s other bowl games.
The Pop-Tarts and Citrus bowls were the two most-viewed college football bowl games outside of the College Football Playoff last season.
More than 9 million viewers tuned in to see Texas topple Michigan 41-27 in last season’s Citrus Bowl. It was the most-watched non-CFP game, slightly beating out the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which drew 8.7 million viewers to watch BYU defeat Georgia Tech 25-21.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl, which has quickly become a fan favorite, will air on ESPN on Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m.
The game features the No. 1 ACC team versus the No. 2 Big 12 team, excluding teams in the playoffs.
The Citrus Bowl, which was previously sponsored by Cheez-It, will air at Noon on ABC on Jan. 2, 2027. It features the highest-ranked teams from the Big Ten and SEC that are not in the playoffs.
It’s the first time the game has been featured on a Saturday since 2022.
Both games will take place at 60,000-seat Camping World Stadium, which is currently undergoing a $400 million renovation to upgrade the upper seating bowl, expand the terrace-level concourses, and introduce a redesigned exterior.
As such, there will be reduced capacity for both games due to ongoing construction, which is set to be completed in the summer of 2027.
That will also be the case for the annual Florida Blue Florida Classic game between Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M, which takes place on Nov. 21 at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com.
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