Boardwalk Bowl

The Boardwalk Bowl is a post-season college football game held at the former Atlantic City Convention Center (now Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The game featured an annual matchup between Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, known as the "Little Army–Navy Game" until 1967. The playing surface in the earlier years consisted of natural grass sod that was grown outside and then moved indoors for the game. This game was first held in 1961 and continued annually through 1973. From 1968 through 1972, it was the NCAA College Division East championship game. In 1973, under a new playoff system, it became the Division II national semifinal. It was discontinued after the 1973 game. The Boardwalk Bowl, along with the Liberty Bowl (played in the Convention Center in 1964), showed the feasibility of playing football indoors and led the promoters of football games to look seriously at developing indoor facilities primarily for this purpose. Since 1981, the NCAA Division I FCS Playoff East Regional Championship (National Quarterfinal) is commonly referred to as the Boardwalk Bowl in honor of its College Division heritage. The game is played at the highest remaining seed in the East Region with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division I FCS Playoff Final Four (National Semifinal).