Frisco Bowl Tickets

What the Frisco Bowl is and when it is played

The Frisco Bowl is a college football bowl game played each December in Frisco, Texas, north of Dallas. The 2026 game, the ninth in Frisco, is scheduled for Wednesday, December 23, 2026, at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN, at Ford Center at The Star, the indoor stadium at the Dallas Cowboys' headquarters. ESPN Events owns and operates the bowl.

The bowl began in 2014 as the Miami Beach Bowl. ESPN Events bought it in April 2017 and moved it to Frisco that year. Its standing tie-in is with the American Conference, and the second team is chosen at large; for the 2025 game, organizers said the field would come from the American, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West or the Sun Belt. The 2026 pairing had not been announced at the time of writing, so wait for the early-December selections before assuming a matchup.

Two bowls in one Frisco week

Frisco hosts two bowl games in December 2026, as it did in 2025. The first, the Frisco Football Classic, is set for Tuesday, December 15, 2026, at 8 p.m. Central. The Frisco Bowl follows on December 23. Both games are at Ford Center at The Star and both air on ESPN, and organizers have offered a two-game ticket package.

• Weeknight kickoffs: both games start at 8 p.m. on a weekday, so local fans can come after work and visitors should plan a late finish.
• Christmas timing: the December 23 date sits just before the holiday, which makes the trip home tight for traveling fans of the participating schools.
• Small building, fixed supply: with about 12,000 seats, the venue holds far fewer fans than a typical bowl stadium, so a matchup with a nearby school can sell through faster than the history of small crowds suggests.

Ford Center at The Star and where to sit

Ford Center at The Star opened in 2016 at 9 Cowboys Way. It is the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility and also the home field for Frisco Independent School District (Frisco ISD) high school football, built through a partnership of the City of Frisco, Frisco ISD and the Cowboys. The building is climate-controlled with a synthetic turf field and seats about 12,000. The Frisco Bowl moved here for the 2025 game because Toyota Stadium, its home from 2017 through 2024, was under renovation, and the 2026 game stays indoors.

The building changes the seat decision in a few ways:

• No weather variable: there is no sun, wind or cold to plan around, which removes the usual December trade-off between shade and a good view.
• Close to the field everywhere: a 12,000-seat venue has no distant upper deck, so sideline seats near midfield give the best view and corners still feel close.
• Height still helps: front rows sit at the level of the players and staff on the sideline; a few rows up gives a clearer look at plays developing across the field.
• Fan sections: supporters of each school tend to gather on the side of their team's bench, so check the team assignments once announced if you want to sit with your school.

Section maps for the bowl configuration are not widely published, so compare the seating chart on your listing with the venue's own map before you buy.

Getting to The Star in Frisco

Ford Center is part of The Star, the Cowboys' 91-acre headquarters development in Frisco. Frisco is a suburb north of Dallas, and most visitors arrive by car; the region's two airports, Dallas Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field, both serve the area, and rideshare is the simplest option for a late finish.

Parking arrangements and bag rules for the bowl are set by the venue each year and were not published for the 2026 game at the time of writing. Check the bowl's site and the venue's current policies before you go, including whether bags must be clear.

Results, crowds and what drives demand

The Frisco Bowl has always been a modest-sized game. At Toyota Stadium, crowds ranged from 11,029 in 2018 to 15,801 in 2021. The first game at Ford Center, Ohio against UNLV in December 2025, drew 6,521. Results by year:

• 2017: Louisiana Tech 51, SMU 10.
• 2018: Ohio 27, San Diego State 0.
• 2019: Kent State 51, Utah State 41.
• 2020: canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 2021: San Diego State 38, UTSA 24.
• 2022: Boise State 35, North Texas 32.
• 2023: UTSA 35, Marshall 17.
• 2024: Memphis 42, West Virginia 37.
• 2025: Ohio 17, UNLV 10.

Distance matters more than brand here. The largest crowds have come with Texas schools in the game: 14,419 with SMU in 2017 and 15,801 with UTSA in 2021, while a pairing of two distant schools on a weeknight before Christmas tends to leave plenty of seats. In a 12,000-seat building, though, even a moderate traveling crowd from a nearby school can tighten supply in the best sideline sections.

Naming sponsors and history

The game has carried several names since it moved to Texas: the DXL Frisco Bowl (2017–2018), the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (2019–2021), simply the Frisco Bowl (2022), and the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl from 2023. ESPN Events listed the 2026 game without a sponsor name in its June 2026 schedule, so the title for this season may still change.

The bowl's best finishes have been shootouts: Kent State's 51–41 win over Utah State in 2019 and Memphis's 42–37 win over West Virginia in 2024, against a Big 12 opponent. Every GoodSeats order is backed by a 100% guarantee. Updates on teams, schedules and fan events are posted at thefriscobowl.com.

Sources

• Frisco Bowl – Frisco to host two bowl games in December 2026
• Visit Frisco – Frisco to host two bowl games December 2026
• Visit Frisco – 2025 Frisco Bowl moves to Ford Center at The Star
• ESPN Press Room – ESPN Events 2026–27 bowl schedule
• Wikipedia – Frisco Bowl
• Wikipedia – Ford Center at The Star
• Wikipedia – 2026–27 NCAA football bowl games