The Pearl Bowl (パールボウル) is the championship game of a yearly tournament held in the spring involving the twelve teams from the East and Central Divisions of the X-League, that are based in the Kanto region.

Pearl Bowl
パールボウル
StadiumTokyo Dome
LocationTokyo, Japan
Previous stadiumsKorakuen Stadium 1976-1987 Yokohama Stadium 1996
Operated1976–present
Conference tie-insX-League 1976-present
Previous conference tie-insKantoh Collegiate American Football Association 1976-1987

History

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The Pearl Bowl was started in 1976, but matched a university team against a corporate or club team. The university teams won eight years in a row up to 1984.

The format was changed from the 10th edition in 1985 as a game between corporate or club teams. The Renown Rovers won the first of three straight titles that year.

Originally played at Korakuen Stadium, the championship game has been held in Tokyo Dome since it replaced Korakuen in 1988. The only exception has been 1996, when it was played at Yokohama Stadium. That year, West Division teams were allowed to participate, and the Matsushita Denko Impulse won the title.

The Lixil Deers have won the most titles with eight.

Year Bowl Stadium Winner Score Runner-up Most Valuable Player (MVP) Attendance
1976 Pearl Bowl I Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 21-6 Tokyo Vanguards
1977 Pearl Bowl II Korakuen Stadium Meiji U. Griffins 14-12 Tokyo Vanguards
1978 Pearl Bowl III Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 62-13 Renown Rovers
1979 Pearl Bowl IV Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 55-7 Futaba Gumi
1980 Pearl Bowl V Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 62-6 Renown Rovers
1981 Pearl Bowl VI Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 31-18 Nissan
1982 Pearl Bowl VII Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 7-3 Nissan
1983 Pearl Bowl VIII Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 51-0 Nissan
1984 Pearl Bowl IX Korakuen Stadium Nihon U. Phoenix 21-17 Renown Rovers
1985 Pearl Bowl X Korakuen Stadium Renown Rovers 63-7 Nissan
1986 Pearl Bowl XI Korakuen Stadium Renown Rovers 45-24 Nissan
1987 Pearl Bowl XII Korakuen Stadium Renown Rovers 24-8 Sanwa Bank
1988 Pearl Bowl XIII Tokyo Dome NEC Falcons 23-17 Renown Rovers
1989 Pearl Bowl XIV Tokyo Dome Onward Oaks 41-7 Renown Rovers
1990 Pearl Bowl XV Tokyo Dome Onward Oaks 21-19 NEC Falcons
1991 Pearl Bowl XVI Tokyo Dome NEC Falcons 7-2 Onward Oaks
1992 Pearl Bowl XVII Tokyo Dome Onward Skylarks 28-0 Fujitsu Frontiers
1993 Pearl Bowl XVIII Tokyo Dome Onward Skylarks 32-27 Fujitsu Frontiers
1994 Pearl Bowl XIX Tokyo Dome Onward Skylarks 29-28 Fujitsu Frontiers
1995 Pearl Bowl XX Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 42-21 Renown Rovers
1996 Pearl Bowl XXI Yokohama Stadium Matsushita Denko Impulse 18-13 Onward Skylarks
1997 Pearl Bowl XXII Tokyo Dome Recruit Seagulls 31-12 Asahi Beer Silver Star
1998 Pearl Bowl XXIII Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 10-7 Onward Skylarks
1999 Pearl Bowl XXIV Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 31-7 Nissan Prince Tokyo Skyliners DL Tsuyoshi Sekizawa, Kashima
2000 Pearl Bowl XXV Tokyo Dome Recruit Seagulls 7-3 Kashima Deers DB Yasumasa Tamanoi, Recruit
2001 Pearl Bowl XXVI Tokyo Dome Onward Skylarks 34-21 Kashima Deers Teruhiro Ura, Onward
2002 Pearl Bowl XXVII Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 20-19 OT Recruit Seagulls Tatsuya Shida, Kashima
2003 Pearl Bowl XXVIII Tokyo Dome Fujitsu Frontiers 14-13 Obic Seagulls Mizuguchi Takao, Fujitsu
2004 Pearl Bowl XXIX Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 17-7 Onward Skylarks CB Tsuna Sano, Kashima
2005 Pearl Bowl XXX Tokyo Dome Obic Seagulls 27-2 Asahi Beer Silver Star QB Manabu Tasumura, Obic
2006 Pearl Bowl XXXI Tokyo Dome Fujitsu Frontiers 20-6 Onward Skylarks Makoto Tsukino, Fujitsu 13,634
2007 Tournament not held, because of the 2007 IFAF World Championship
2008 Pearl Bowl XXXII Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 27-14 Fujitsu Frontiers RB Yasuhiro Maruta, Kashima 15,326
2009 Pearl Bowl XXXIII Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 20-17 Obic Seagulls RB Shoichiro Sato, Kashima 11,823
2010 Pearl Bowl XXXIV Tokyo Dome Obic Seagulls 15-13 Fujitsu Frontiers Taiki Matsubayashi, Obic 14,066
2011 Tournament not held, because of the 2011 IFAF World Championship
2012 Pearl Bowl XXXV Tokyo Dome Obic Seagulls 31-10 Fujitsu Frontiers WR Noriaki Kinoshita, Obic 13,125
2013 Pearl Bowl XXXVI Tokyo Dome Kashima Deers 17-10[1] Fujitsu Frontiers WR Yujiro Iwai, Kashima 19,250
2014 Pearl Bowl XXXVII Tokyo Dome Obic Seagulls 37-34 OT[2] Fujitsu Frontiers WR Noriaki Kinoshita, Obic 16,869
2015 Tournament not held, because of the 2015 IFAF World Championship
2016 Pearl Bowl XXXVIII Tokyo Dome IBM Big Blue 21-20[3] LIXIL Deers WR Takeshi Kurihara, IBM 15,875
2017 Pearl Bowl XXXIX Tokyo Dome Obic Seagulls 29-27[4] IBM Big Blue WR Taro Mizuno, Obic 16,281

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Coskrey, Jason (June 25, 2013). "Deers beat Frontiers to win Pearl Bowl title". japantimes.co.jp. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  2. ^ Ikezawa, Hiroshi (June 24, 2014). "Seagulls outlast Frontiers in wild Pearl Bowl". japantimes.co.jp. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  3. ^ Marantz, Ken (June 16, 2016). "Pearl Bowl final:Brooks foils Lixil gamble as IBM bags 1st title in team's 40-year history". xleague.com. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  4. ^ Marantz, Ken (June 21, 2016). "Chips off the old blocks: Seagulls hold off BigBlue in wild Pearl Bowl final". xleague.com. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
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