Belk Bowl

The Belk Bowl is a college football bowl game held each year in Charlotte, N.C. The bowl has been a part of the NCAA postseason since 2002 and was previously known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl. It hosts the No. 3 team in the Big East against the No. 5/6 pick from the ACC. It is owned and operated by Raycom Sports (also based in Charlotte).

In 2011, NC State snapped a three-year ACC losing streak, defeating Louisville in the first edition of the game played under the Belk Bowl name.

The Belk Bowl was born from the desk of Ken Haines, president and CEO of Charlotte-based Raycom Sports. Raycom had already brought college football to Charlotte by hosting games between NC State and UNC, as well as NC State and East Carolina, at Bank of America Stadium, and Haines was hoping to expand to the postseason.

The process of bringing a bowl to Charlotte began in 2001, when Haines heard that one of the NCAA's bowls would not renewed as part of the postseason. He and the Raycom staff -- together with help from community and athletic supporters in Charlotte -- put together a formal presentation for the NCAA committee. That presentation was due to occur on Sept. 11, 2001. After the events of that day unfolded, the meeting was canceled and planned to be postponed.

It was only eight months later that Haines finally made his presentation to the NCAA and, one day later, on May 2, 2002, the committee approved a new bowl game in Charlotte. Continental Tire signed on as a title sponsor, and Virginia and West Virginia accepted invitations to play in the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl.

The first bowl took place on Dec. 28, 2002, as Virginia defeated the Mountaineers, 48-22. The game was a sellout, and the crowd of 73,535 is the second largest ever for a bowl debut. It also was the largest non-BCS crowd of the year.

In 2003, the bowl set another new record as the highest-viewed bowl game in the history of ESPN2, a record it topped again in 2004. It also was named one of the best start-ups in sports in the previous five years, in a Sports Business Journal article in 2004.

In 2006, Meineke Car Care took over as the title sponsor of the Charlotte bowl. The company ended its agreement with the bowl after the 2010 edition, which was won by South Florida. Belk, a department store chain based in Charlotte, took over sponsorship, starting with the 2011 game. That year, NC State snapped a three-year losing streak by ACC schools, beating Louisville.