It's not a surprise that the Orange Bowl ended its sponsorship agreement with Discover and replaced it with Capital One -- the move was reported as far back as June -- but as of Monday, it is now official:
The move ends the Orange Bowl's four-year association with Discover and makes it the third ex-BCS-now-New Year's Six bowl to change its sponsorship this offseason, following in the footsteps of the Rose Bowl (now sponsored by Northwestern Mutual) and the Fiesta Bowl (no longer associated with Tostitos, ending an 18-year agreement).
The Orange Bowl's announcement also carries apparent ramifications for the bowl currently sponsored by Capital One, the Orlando-based game currently known as the Capital One Bowl and formerly called the Citrus Bowl*. Rather than sponsor two different bowl games, ESPN reported Monday that Capital One is "expected" to drop its sponsorship of the Orlando game, allowing it to become the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
If that report is confirmed, the game will be played under the "Citrus Bowl" name for the first time since 2002.
And we're not done with the Orange fallout yet. It's not hard to connect the dots between Buffalo Wild Wings' new agreement with the Citrus Bowl and its decision to end its sponsorship of the Tempe, Ariz. game currently known as the Cactus Bowl.
At least until the Cactus Bowl, too, finds a sponsor.
*And founded as the Tangerine Bowl. Try to keep up.
