The football season is inching closer and closer and the 2025 Cricket Celebration Bowl date and time have been revealed by ESPN. The release is in line with the schedule drop of the 2025 Bowl Game schedule, and the annual championship matchup between the MEAC and the SWAC is once again starting Bowl Season. The game be played at 12 PM EST on Saturday, December 13, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on ABC.

Last year's game marked the first under the new College Football Playoffs format, which shifted the game up by a week. At the time, critics raised concerns about a potential unfair advantage for the MEAC over the SWAC. The SWAC Champion had no break between the SWAC Championship and the Celebration Bowl, while the MEAC Champion, coming from a conference without a championship game, benefited from a two-week rest period.

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But, the condensed schedule didn't stop Jackson State from getting a resounding 28-7 victory over South Carolina State to capture their first Celebration Bowl title, with the Tigers being the second straight SWAC team to win the big game. The Jackson State-South Carolina State matchup also drew a good viewership number on ABC, as the game drew an audience of 2.1 million viewers, a 37% increase compared to last year’s total of 1.5 million, according to ESPN.

The change in the date and time of the game appeared to help in viewership success. The 12 p.m. EST slot for this year’s game faced no significant competition from either other college football bowl games or the NFL. Over the past two seasons, Saturday afternoon NFL broadcasts and overlapping early bowl games created stiff competition for audience attention, something last year’s iteration of the game successfully circumvented.

With the game’s date and time officially confirmed, MEAC and SWAC teams will be eager to secure their spot in Atlanta this December.