Celebration Bowl
The Celebration Bowl is a postseason college football bowl game, first played in the 2015 season, contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference — the two prominent conferences of historically black colleges and universities in NCAA Division I. It serves as the de facto national championship of black college football. The game is held annually on the third weekend of December. Starting with the December 2017 game, it is played at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium; the first two games were played at the Georgia Dome. It is currently the only active bowl game to feature teams from the Football Championship Subdivision.
History
The Celebration Bowl is a successor to two previous bowl games between the MEAC and SWAC, the Pelican Bowl and Heritage Bowl. Because the Celebration Bowl takes place during the FCS playoff tournament, neither the SWAC nor the MEAC can send their champion to the tournament. At the time the Celebration Bowl was inaugurated, the SWAC's regular season already extended too late into the year for its champion to enter the FCS playoffs, while the MEAC dropped its automatic bid to the FCS playoffs in order to send its champion to the Celebration Bowl.The game is organized by ESPN Events, which also runs the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, the annual interconference game between the two conferences, held over Labor Day weekend in Orlando, Florida. The Celebration Bowl was sponsored by the Air Force Reserve for three playings: 2015, 2016, and 2018.
In June 2017, the SWAC announced that it would discontinue the SWAC Championship Game following the 2017 playing, resulting in the SWAC regular season champion automatically qualifying for the Celebration Bowl. However, in June 2018, the SWAC reversed course and continues to hold its championship game, with the winner advancing to the Celebration Bowl.
Due to the MEAC cancelling all fall athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced that the 2020 Celebration Bowl had been cancelled.
Game results
MVPs
Two MVPs are selected for each game; one an offensive player, the other a defensive player.| Game | MVPs | Position | Team |
| 2015 | Tarik Cohen | RB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2015 | Denzel Jones | LB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2016 | Martez Carter | RB | Grambling State |
| 2016 | Jameel Jackson | DB | Grambling State |
| 2017 | Marquell Cartwright | RB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2017 | Franklin "Mac" McCain III | CB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2018 | Lamar Raynard | QB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2018 | Richie Kittle | DB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2019 | Kylil Carter | QB | North Carolina A&T |
| 2019 | Jacob Roberts | LB | North Carolina A&T |
Most appearances
Through December 2019, there have been 5 games.| Rank | Appearances | Team | Wins | Losses | Pct. | Years |
| 1 | 4 | North Carolina A&T Aggies football| | 4 | 0 | 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 | |
| 2 | 3 | Alcorn State Braves football| | 0 | 3 | 2015, 2018, 2019 | |
| 3 | 2 | Grambling State Tigers football| | 1 | 1 | 2016, 2017 | |
| 4 | 1 | North Carolina Central Eagles football| | 0 | 1 | 2016 |