American college postseason gridiron football (football, gridiron) game played for many years on New Year's Day in Miami. It is one of four bowls that take turns hosting the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) (BCS) national championship game of Division I college football (the others are the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl). Under the BCS system scheduled to last until the 2009 regular season, the Orange Bowl is played annually (usually a day or two after January 1), and every four years the bowl also hosts the national championship game, which is generally played before January 8.

The bowl game was first played in 1933 to attract winter tourists to Florida a month before their usual arrival. Embraced by local businessmen, it also benefited the struggling young University of Miami (Miami, University of), which played in the early games; by 1936, however, the team's participation was no longer automatic. Thereafter, at least one of the participating teams came from the South, until the mid-1950s, when the bowl was opened to high-ranking teams nationwide. The champion of the Big 8 Conference (Big 12 Conference) (now the Big 12 (Big 12 Conference)) was one of the participants in 38 of the 42 games from 1954 through 1995. In 1998 the Orange Bowl joined the BCS. Now the game has a tie-in with the Big East Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference and generally features their champions unless either team is playing in the national championship game.

The event was originally called the Palm Festival, but its present name was adopted in 1935. The game was moved in 1938 to the newly constructed Orange Bowl stadium, where it remained until it relocated to Joe Robbie Stadium (now called Dolphin Stadium) in 1995. Since 1990 the Orange Bowl has been sponsored by FedEx. The Orange Bowl Festival features, in addition to the football game, a parade, a tennis tournament, a basketball tournament, a fireworks display, and a sailboat regatta.