Lions Announce 2015 Quick Lane Bowl Schedule
By Zac Snyder
The Detroit Lions have announced that the 2015 Quick Lane Bowl will be played on Monday, December 28 at 5:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN2.
As it did last year, the game will be played between representatives from the Big Ten and ACC.
The announcement was accompanied by a statement from Lions Team President Tom Lewand via press release:
"We couldn’t have been happier with the inaugural Quick Lane Bowl and this year’s schedule change is indicative of its success. This will allow us a better opportunity to accommodate our guests with expanded travel time around the holidays and position us to build upon the overall experience."
My guess is that the Lions could have actually have been happier with the inaugural Quick Lane Bowl as the game only drew 23,876. The Quick Lane Bowl was supposed to be an improvement on the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl as it brought in two teams from power conferences, but that obviously didn’t result in bigger crowds.
Every edition of the Motor City/Little Caesars Pizza Bowl topped that attendance figure except for the 2012 game between Western Kentucky and Central Michigan (23,310).
The inaugural Quick Lane Bowl may not have been a big draw with college football fans, but it appears to have been a hit with the players. 2015 NFL Draft pick Michael Burton, selected by the Lions in the fifth round, was a participant in last year’s inaugural game and came away with a glowing review, highlighted by the opportunity to play at Ford Field:
"It was an awesome experience – definitely first-class. Detroit was great, but the thing I probably remember the most is Ford Field. It was unbelievable; just walking throughout the tunnels and throughout the stadium. It was a really nice facility."
Hopefully the 2015 game fares better than the game last year. The tie-in with the Big Ten will be important for the game’s success, but drawing first-year member Rutgers was a worst-case scenario for the inaugural game.
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Quotes provided by the Detroit Lions.