Be Part of the History

In Fall 2007, Bright House Networks Stadium was completed on the University of Central Florida campus. This 45,301- stadium, located in Orlando, Florida, created a desire among the Central Florida community to bring a new bowl game to the stadium. Among those supporters was the initial founding Board of Directors;  John Rhodes, Mack Mclaughlin, Alan Fidelo, Joe Mckinney, Jeff Lagos, Dave Almstead, Joe Hornstein, Megan Dowdy, Scott Rose, Alan Morrison, and the Cure Bowl Executive Director Alan Gooch.

Through  years of experience working with and supporting UCF Athletics,  Florida Citrus Sports and the NCAA College Football Bowl system , this group  knew that each college bowl game donated its profits to a charitable cause. However, the general public typically does not know which charitable causes are being supported. To separate this bowl from the rest of the bowls the founding board wanted the bowl game at Bright House Networks Stadium to be different, to allow the public to view their support of and involvement in the game as an opportunity to support a significant cause as well.

As the bowl game committee was being formed, John Rhodes’ sister, Laura Rhodes Goldstein, was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. This unfortunate event inspired the initial board to name breast cancer research as the charity for the bowl game at Bright House Networks Stadium. To have this bowl game be set apart from the others, it was decided that the named charitable cause would be the focus of the game. As a result, the Cure Bowl was born.