The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and academic consortium between three private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. state of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville, Bates College in Lewiston, and Bowdoin College in Brunswick. In allusion to the Big Three of the Ivy League, they are collectively known the "Maine Big Three", a play on words with the words "Maine" and "main". The school names are ordered by their geographical organization in Maine (north to south).
The colleges contest a variety of college sports between themselves, primarily in football and rowing. On the former, they compete for a CBB Championship Trophy in three-way football games in the Fall of their respective academic years. As of the 2023âÂÂ24 season, Bowdoin leads the conference in wins, with 20; Colby has 17 and Bates has won 13. There have been eight three-way-ties: 1965, 1979, 1993, 1995, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2022. For rowing, the schools contest the CBB Chase Regatta, an annual up-and-down river tourney for the President's Cup. The all-time leader of the Chase Regatta is Bates with a total of 18 composite wins, followed by Colby's 5 wins, concluding with Bowdoin's 1 win.
From its inception, Bates College served as an alternative to a more traditional and historically conservative Bowdoin College. There is a long tradition of rivalry and competitiveness between the two colleges, revolving around socioeconomic class, academic quality, and collegiate athletics. The two colleges have competed against each other athletically since the 1870s, and subsequently share one of the ten oldest NCAA Division III football rivalries, in the United States. The Bates-Bowdoin Game is the most attended football game every academic year at both colleges. Bowdoin developed a "football fight song" entitled, "Forward the White" in 1913. All football games between the two occurred on Bowdoin's Whittier Field, until the development of Bates' Garcelon Field.
Colby remained isolated from neighboring Bates, and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium because of its location in Waterville as well as socioeconomic and political differences. The CBB Games was created for the 1965 college football season. Previously, Bates and Bowdoin have competed since 1870s against the University of Maine in the Maine State Series or Maine State Championship. When the University of Maine moved to a higher division in 1965, Colby joined and the rivalry took its current name. In the 1940s, Colby began competing with the two colleges and in the first game, had a three-way tie. In 1988, Bates president Thomas Hedley Reynolds began the Chase Regatta, a rowing competition, which features the President's Cup, which is contested annually. Since August 3, 1997, when Reynolds instated the President's Cup to be contested by all three for rowing. Rowing is the most active boat sport of Bates and Colby, with Bowdoin being more active in Sailing. Bowdoin is the only college in the CBB to maintain a Club Rowing team, and suspended its varsity team at its founding.
<small>Note: Source of wins and losses: games between 1966 and 1978, games between 1979 and 1998, and for all other games not specified in aforementioned years:</small> <small>The highest scoring game was the 1987 Colby-Bates with a total of 74 points. The lowest scoring game was the 1967 Bowdoin-Colby game with a total of 7 points. The biggest shutout was Bates' 51âÂÂ0 game against Colby in 1985. The longest consecutive streak of games won is Colby with 5 championships in a row (1988âÂÂ1992). There have been 7 three-way-ties, 1 two-way tie, and 4 uses of overtime, (the 2006 Colby-Bates game required overtime to be issued four times for a winner to be determined).</small>
<small>Note: The President's Cup is given to the team that has won the most overall heats and races, while the overall winner is determined by who won the most varsity and heavyweight competitions in the regatta.</small>
The all-time leader of the Chase Regatta is Bates with a total of 18 composite wins, followed by Colby's 5 wins, concluding with Bowdoin's 1 win. The regatta has been held on various waters, and is hosted by all three of the colleges; the most frequent waters occupied are: the Androscoggin River (Bates and Bowdoin), the Kennebec River (Colby), and Messalonskee River (Colby).
The President's Cup â instated to be contested by all three of the schools in rowing.
In 1999, all three colleges were prominently featured in The Sopranos. In the episode entitled, "College", Tony Soprano takes his daughter, Meadow on a trip to Maine to tour the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium. They first visit Bates in Lewiston; while walking past the college's chapel she states, "[Bates has] a 48-to-52 male-female ratio, which is great, strong liberal arts program and this cool Olin Arts Center for music." They then drive up to Colby and Bowdoin using Drew University in New Jersey as the two college's exteriors. On the drive from Bates to Colby, Tony Soprano reveals to his daughter that he is in the mafia, a major turning point in the series.
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