The All-American Bowl (branded as the Navy All-American Bowl for sponsorship reasons) is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is played between all-star teams representing the eastern and western United States.
Seventeen All-Americans have been Heisman Trophy finalists, with over 450 later playing in the National Football League. Notable alumni include Andrew Luck, Adrian Peterson, Odell Beckham Jr., Eric Berry, Tim Tebow, Joe Thomas, Tyron Smith, Robert Quinn, C. J. Mosley, DeMarco Murray, and Chase Young.
The All-American Bowl was previously organized by All-American Games; in 2019, NBC Sports announced it had acquired the game and its assets.
The All-American Bowl is an annual high school football all-star game. The All-American Bowl is usually played in January between all-star teams representing the eastern and western United States.
The First All-American High School Football game, held on June 25, 1994, at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania marked a significant moment in the history of high school football. The event was orchestrated by Dale Dougherty, whose unwavering determination led to the participation of high schools nationwide in the inaugural spectacle.
Dougherty's vision culminated in a national selection process, spearheaded by a network of sportswriters, to identify the country's top graduated seniors. The selected players were divided into 33-player teams, segregated into East and West squads, with the Mississippi River serving as the geographical dividing line.
The event featured an impressive roster, with 63 out of the top 66 high school football players nationwide committing to participate. Lamont Green, Bo Barzilauskas, Rasheed Simmons, Ryan Clement, Amp Campbell, Marcus Nash, Jason McCullough, and Dan Drogan were among the participants, each boasting remarkable achievements in their respective positions.
Efforts were made to secure corporate sponsorships, offering various packages ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to involve businesses in supporting the event. Discussions with Prime Network/Sports Channel aimed for national exposure, targeting approximately 50 million households. Television coverage was secured through WFMZ-TV, Channel 69, for local broadcasting and ESPN2 for nationwide telecast.
Dougherty's brainchild evolved from an academic project during his sports administration studies at the United States Sports Academy into a groundbreaking reality. The All-American Bowl not only stood as a significant sporting event but also symbolized a pioneering effort in high school football. It united the nation's top talent on a grand stage, setting the precedent for future editions of this prestigious showcase.
The game was first played on December 30, 2000, at Highlander Stadium in Dallas. In 2002, the game was moved to San Antonio, where it is played at the Alamodome. Since the game's inception, attendance has risen from 6,300 for the inaugural game in 2000 to a record 40,568 in 2017. The United States Army served as title sponsor of the game until 2017, when it announced that it would not renew its sponsorship past the 2018 edition. American Family Insurance became the new presenting sponsor the following year, and was succeeded by the United States Navy in 2025.
NBC started broadcasting the All-American Bowl in 2004. As a result, the game became a platform for participating college prospects to announce a verbal commitment to their future university. Prior to 2019, the All-American Bowl was organized by All-American Games. On February 25, 2019, it was announced that All-American Games had sold the game to NBC Sports Group for an undisclosed "seven-figure" amount. There were plans to leverage NBC's other platforms, including NBCSN and SportsEngine (a provider of digital media services oriented towards youth and amateur sports) as part of promotion and coverage of the game. This purchase did not include other events owned by All-American Games, such as the FBU National Championships (a youth football event) and the FBU Freshman All-American BowlâÂÂboth held annually in Naples, Florida, which were sold separately to All-American Games vice-president Steve Quinn and partner Erik Richards.
The 2021 game (originally scheduled for January 9, 2021) was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In place of the game, NBC scheduled an All-American Bowl: Declaration Day special on January 2, 2021, to honor top players of the 2020 season and air commitment announcements.
During the week of the game, a number of national awards are given at a formal awards dinner including:
After the conclusion of the game on Saturday afternoon, these awards are given:
All-American Bowl players are chosen through a national "selection tour" and associated combine. The committee is headed by the national recruiting director, Erik Richards.
East victories are shaded <span style="color:#ffcccc;">âÂÂâÂÂ</span> red. West victories shaded <span style="color:#ffffcc;">âÂÂâÂÂ</span> gold.
A game MVP is announced after each year's All-American Bowl. In the past, the winner of the MVP award was given the Pete Dawkins Trophy, named for 1958 Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins, but as of 2019 that award name is no longer active.
Seventeen All-Americans have been Heisman Trophy finalists, with over 450 later playing in the National Football League.
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The below statistics are sourced from 247Sports All-American Bowl Roster pages 2010âÂÂ2026.
All-American Bowl selections have represented 46 states and provinces since 2010. Texas has the most selections all-time with 236. California (233), Florida (218), and Georgia (185) are the only other states with more than 100 selections.
Over 1,000 schools have had at least one player on All-American Bowl rosters and over 20% of have had more than one selection.
Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei has the most all-time selections with 24, all coming since 2016. The only other schools with more than 10 selections are Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy, Bellflower (CA) St. John Bosco, Fort Lauderdale (FL) American Heritage, Buford (GA) Buford, Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas and Southlake (TX) Southlake Carroll. IMG Academy also holds the record for most selections in a single year (5) in 2018.