The Capital One Bowl, Orlando and Florida Citrus Sports have adopted a new bowl into its family of college football events. The Champs Sports Bowl, as it has been known since 2004, is now officially named the new Russell Athletic Bowl.The inaugural Russell Athletic Bowl will feature the Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The newly named bowl will help round out Central Florida’s preference for outdoor sporting events at the Orlando Citrus Bowl. The bowl will be managed by Florida Citrus Sports, a 501c3 non-profit volunteer organization in Central Florida.

The Russell Athletic Bowl will be held for the first time on December 28, 2012 at 5:30 EST. This newly renamed college bowl will feature the 3rd ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team vs. the 2nd ranked Big East team. The projected estimated payout for the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2012 will be $4.55 million. From a comparison standpoint, this is estimated to be about half the payout of the 2013 Capital One Bowl.

According to company literature, Russell Athletics was founded in 1902 in Alabama by Benjamin Russell. The company is now corporately located in Bowling Green, Kentucky with annual sales exceeding $1.4 billion. Although Russell Athletic was once a public company, it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway group which has been run up to recently by the high profile billionaire Warren Buffett. The Russell Athletic Bowl makes a nice fit for the company marketing its line of premium branded sporting goods including Brooks, Spalding, Russell Athletic®, Russell Outdoors®, Jerzees®, Dri-Power®, Dudley Sports and Bike® Athletic products.

Russell Athletic “Together We R” and Visit Florida’s “Together We Are” Promotions – A Natural “Fit”?

Together is the optimal word as both Central Florida and Russell Athletic launch their respective marketing campaigns. Whether it is coincidental or not, Central Florida has dubbed its new tourism push as “Together We Are” and Russell Athletic’s marketing campaign is “Together We R”. The latter campaign by Russell is geared towards recognizing team excellence while at the same time promoting its line of premium team sports products. So the promotional synergy between Russell and Central Florida tourism is very natural here, and “together” we’ll have a great college bowl event.

2012 Russell Athletic Bowl Prediction

While it could still be any number of teams to be selected, our most likely Russell Bowl selections should be Rutgers or Louisville from the Big East Conference against Clemson, Virginia Tech or North Carolina State from the Atlantic Coast Conference. We ultimately believe it could be an improving Rutgers squad vs. the Virginia Tech Hokies for the Russell Athletic bowl game.

Season Update

The third place ACC team is looking weak late in the season. It may come down to an ACC team with 5 losses representing the conference in this spot. Rutgers is highly likely to play in the Russell Athletic Bowl as we anticipated.

2012 Russell Athletic Bowl – Final Score

Virginia Tech edged the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl by a score of 13-10 in overtime. Rutgers led up until the 3rd quarter when mistakes on a rain soaked Citrus Bowl gridiron doomed the Knights. Although the Hokies offense was not dynamic, it scored enough points off turnovers to seal the Virginia Tech victory.

Together in a Vacation Home

So whether its “Together We Are” or “Together We R”, the important thing is that you are together as a family in an Orlando vacation home. Most resort communities are within 30-40 minutes of the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium and offer premium amenities such as private pools, full kitchens, game rooms, and resort recreational amenities. Area homes range in size from 3 to 8 bedrooms which encompasses a wide variety of choices and options.

The team at Orlando Vacation Homes 360 (OVH 360) is friendly and knowledgeable and ready to make your stay an enjoyable one. Although OVH 360 has meticulously reviewed over 70 communities in Central Florida,the OVH 360 team only books reservations in to a select number of subdivisions. This assures that only the cleanest and well maintained homes are part of the OVH 360 rental program. Call the team at 407-966-4144 or 1-888-826-0551 for any questions you may have about being together in a vacation home for the inaugural Russell Athletic Bowl.