In almost three decades, Music City bowl bowl boss Ramsey has seen it all

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Dec. 17—Three years later, Scott Ramsey finally got his team.

Well, not actually HIS teams, but the ones that best suit the event in Nashville, Tenn., he runs, the Music City Bowl: Illinois and Tennessee.

"We're excited to have them," Ramsey said. "First time ever (for Illinois, fourth for the Vols.

"Obviously very impressed with Josh (Whitman) and the leadership team there and Coach (Bret) Bielema. We're looking forward to having them down."

The Dec. 30 game at Nissan Stadium matches Bielema against Josh Heupel, who led his team to the College Football Playoff last season.

A day after the schools continued their basketball series in Nashville, they found out they will play in football for the first time.

Could be a lot of orange, though rumor has it Illinois fans will be encouraged to emphasize their blue to stand out from the sea of Tennessee supporters.

Ramsey has been with the game since its inception in 1998 and serves as President/CEO.

How did the pairing come together?

"Every year is different," Ramsey said. "There is no real cookie-cutter format."

What you might not know, when it comes to bowl invites, the Big Ten treats the original 14 in a separate pool from the four West Coast additions.

"They still stay in a selection pool for the legacy Pac-12 schools," Ramsey said.

The latest Music City Bowl deal with the Big Ten, signed in 2019, has remained with the 14.

The Music City has rules to avoid repeat teams. It can only have one team twice in a six-year window.

"This year, it was fairly straight forward," Ramsey said. "You just felt like Michigan was going to fall to the Citrus, which left a group a lot of us were looking at: Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska."

Iowa was at the Music City last year and two of the last three.

"It kind of emerged Illinois out of there," Ramsey said. "We've really done well over the 28 years we've had the game now in fan bases like Illinois that can drive here or have short flights.

"Just a lot of things lined up there."

Crowded house

Iowa and Missouri played in last year's game and drew 43.375 to 69.143-capacity Nissan Stadium. A new domed stadium is being built nearby for the Tennessee Titans and will seat about 60.00. It is expected to open in 2027 and will host the Music City Bowl.

Between Illinois and Tennessee, Ramsey is hoping for a big crowd.

It is less than a six-hour drive from Champaign-Urbana to Nashville. I know after making the trip a handful of times over the years.

"We're looking forward to having them down and excited about giving the Illini fans a real chance to hop in the car and come and visit our city for a few days," Ramsey said.

In 2022, Illinois was under consideration for the game, but ended up playing Mississippi State in the ReliaQuest Bowl instead.

Starting from scratch

The Music City Bowl deal with the Big Ten has been in place since 2000. It's about to come to an end, at least for now.

"Every (bowl) deal in the country ends this year" Ramsey said. "Everybody is waiting on the CFP (College Football Playoff) to make decisions on whether or not they are going to expand the Playoff and then decide what their bowl lineup is going to be for the next period of time."

Recent cycles have been in six-year increments.

"There's been a lot of disruption," Ramsey said. "We've had the Pac-12 go away, we've had the transfer portal, we've gone from a four- to a 12-team playoff, we've had COVID," Ramsey said. "We've had a little bit of everything here in this six-year window."

The length of the upcoming deal is fluid and will depend on what happens with the other pieces.

"With the delay of the decision on the CFP, everybody's kind of on hold right now," Ramsey said.

Ramsey said the bowl setup today compared to when he started is "dramatically different."

"Late '90s is when conferences started aligning with cities rather than just being in an open market," he said.

Nashville has undergone a dramatic change, adding the NFL in 1999. The city's downtown is an entertainment hub driven by the area's long-time connection to country music.

"The ability to host events has been one of our calling cards," Ramsey said. "The bowl has been a huge staple of that growth."

A good sign for Ramsey was the bowl's ability to land a new title sponsor this year, with Boston-based Liberty Mutual stepping in.

"They're investing in Nashville," Ramsey said.

One of the positives for Nashville as a host city is the compactness of the downtown. Hotels. restaurants and entertainment are within walking distance to the stadium.

"It really creates almost a campus-like environment," he said.

Of course, the folks at the bowl can't control the weather during game week. Generally, temperatures in late December range from the 30s to the 50s. The current forecast for Christmas calls for a high of 58. Sounds toasty compared to C-U.

"As far as Midwest standards, not too bad," Ramsey said. "We've had games in the 60s. We've had games in the 40s."

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