CBS college bowl game broadcasts

CBS held the rights to airing the Cotton Bowl Classic beginning in 1958. It added the Sun Bowl in 1968, which continues to air on CBS as of 2025. From 1974 to 1977, it also aired the Fiesta Bowl, and from 1978 to 1986 it carried the Peach Bowl.

History

As the 1990s began, CBS' Division I-A college football coverage was reduced to its bowl game contracts, which it had with the then-John Hancock, Cotton and the then-Blockbuster bowls. However, it lost the rights to the Cotton Bowl to NBC after the 1992 game, leaving the network with just two bowl games to round out its college football coverage.
For 1995, CBS re-acquired the rights to the Cotton Bowl Classic and also gained rights to the Fiesta Bowl and the Orange Bowl from NBC. This was an important move for CBS as those two bowls would become part of the Bowl Alliance with the Sugar Bowl beginning that season; the goal was to try to guarantee an undisputed national champion in college football, something its predecessor the Bowl Coalition had also tried but did not fully succeed in doing.
Under the terms of the contract, which ran from 1995 through 1997, the Bowl Alliance games would be scheduled for New Year's Eve, New Year's Night, and January 2 with the last of the three serving as the national championship game. CBS would thus be guaranteed two national championship game matchups, with the Sugar Bowl airing on ABC.
CBS was the first network to air a Bowl Alliance national championship game, as Nebraska defeated Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. CBS also continued to air the Sun Bowl, but lost the rights to the Carquest Bowl after the game was moved from New Year's Day following the Orange Bowl's move to the home of the Carquest Bowl, Joe Robbie Stadium.
CBS lost the rights to three of its bowl games following the 1997 season, as ABC gained the rights to the Orange and Fiesta Bowls as the exclusive television home of the newly formed Bowl Championship Series and Fox acquired the rights to the Cotton Bowl Classic.

List of broadcasters

Cotton Bowl Classic

During the 1980 game, CBS announcer Lindsey Nelson was stricken with laryngitis and had to leave the telecast after the first quarter. Sideline reporter Frank Glieber took over the play-by-play for the remainder of the game.

Date	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator	Sideline reporter
January 1, 1992	CBS	Jim Nantz	Terry Bradshaw	Jim Gray
January 1, 1991	CBS	Jim Nantz	Tim Brant	John Dockery
January 1, 1990	CBS	Jim Nantz	Pat Haden
January 2, 1989	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Pat Haden
January 1, 1988	CBS	Brent Musburger	Pat Haden
January 1, 1987	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Pat Haden and Ara Parseghian
January 1, 1986	CBS	Brent Musburger	Ara Parseghian
January 1, 1985	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Pat Haden
January 2, 1984	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Pat Haden
January 1, 1983	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Pat Haden	Pat O'Brien
January 1, 1982	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Roger Staubach	Frank Glieber
January 1, 1981	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Roger Staubach	Frank Glieber
January 1, 1980	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Paul Hornung	Frank Glieber
January 1, 1979	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Paul Hornung	Frank Glieber
January 2, 1978	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Paul Hornung and Paul Alexander	Don Criqui
January 1, 1977	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Paul Hornung
January 1, 1976	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Alex Hawkins
January 1, 1975	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Johnny Sauer
January 1, 1974	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Tom Brookshier
January 1, 1973	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Tom Brookshier
January 1, 1972	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Tom Brookshier
January 1, 1971	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Tom Brookshier
January 1, 1970	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Tom Brookshier
January 1, 1969	CBS	Frank Glieber	Eddie LeBaron
January 1, 1968	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Johnny Sauer
December 31, 1966	CBS	Jack Drees	Pat Summerall
January 1, 1966	CBS	Jack Whitaker	Frank Gifford
January 1, 1965	CBS	Jack Buck	George Connor
January 1, 1964	CBS	Chris Schenkel	Pat Summerall
January 1, 1963	CBS	Lindsey Nelson	Terry Brennan
January 1, 1962	CBS	Chris Schenkel	Johnny Lujack
January 2, 1961	CBS	Jack Drees	Terry Brennan
January 1, 1960	CBS	Jack Drees	Forest Evashevski
January 1, 1959	CBS	Tom Harmon	Darrell Royal
January 1, 1958	CBS	Tom Harmon	Forest Evashevski

Gator Bowl

CBS Sports took over the television contract in 2007 and held the rights for four years.

Date	Network	Play-by-play announcers	Color commentators	Sideline reporters
January 1, 2010	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Gary Danielson	Tracy Wolfson
January 1, 2009	CBS	Craig Bolerjack	Dan Fouts and Steve Beuerlein
January 1, 2008	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Gary Danielson	Tracy Wolfson
January 1, 2007	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Gary Danielson	Tracy Wolfson
December 31, 1987	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Dick Vermeil	John Dockery
December 27, 1986	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Pat Haden	John Dockery

Orange Bowl

Date	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator	Sideline reporters
January 2, 1998	CBS	Sean McDonough	Terry Donahue	Ed Cunningham
December 31, 1996	CBS	Sean McDonough	Mike Mayock	Dave Logan
January 1, 1996	CBS	Sean McDonough	Pat Haden
January 2, 1961	CBS	Ray Scott	Paul Christman
January 1, 1960	CBS	Joe Boland	Paul Christman
January 1, 1959	CBS	Joe Boland	Jim McKay
January 1, 1958	CBS	Chris Schenkel	Johnny Lujack
January 1, 1957	CBS	Tom Harmon
January 2, 1956	CBS	Tom Harmon	Chris Schenkel
January 1, 1955	CBS	Bob Neal
January 1, 1954	CBS	Red Barber
January 1, 1953	CBS	Red Barber

Sun Bowl

As previously mentioned, from 1968 until the present, the game has been broadcast by CBS Sports. The Sun Bowl's contract with CBS Sports is the longest continuous relationship between a bowl game and one TV network.