Plot Synopsis

Originally named the Dallas Football Classic, the bowl game was one of 35 games approved by the NCAA in April 2010 -- and only one of two new bowl games -- scheduled to match teams from the Big Ten and the Big 12. Before the first game was played, TicketCity became the sponsor and the inaugural bowl game was called the TicketCity Bowl. Two years later in 2013, Heart of Dallas, an Irving, Texas based organization, took over operations and sponsorship of the game, which was then called the Heart of Dallas Bowl. After Zaxby's took over sponsorship for four years, from 2014-2017. In 2018, the game was rebranded as the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, with tie-ins with the AAC, ACC, Big 12, and CUSA.