The International Bowl debuted in 2007 and was played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It was the first post-season bowl game to be played outside the United States since the Bacardi Bowl was played in Cuba on January 1, 1937, and the first football game of significance to be played in Canada under American rules since Simon Fraser University's football team left the NAIA in 2001.
In 2004, a partnership led by the City of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreak, but the NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego instead. Toronto re-launched the bid in 2005 and was successful.
The bowl signed an agreement with two Division I conferences for annual representation. The Big East Conference agreed to send a fourth placed team or higher to the game and the Mid-American Conference will select a top team for inclusion in the event.
