NASSAU, Bahamas — The Bahamas Bowl isn’t just a college football bowl game.

Think of it as an ambassadorship or an international goodwill tour. Not just on the part of the United States, but the game of football.

“You’re taking your brand abroad and have an opportunity to spread football into another country,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said, “which I think is cool.”

American football came to the Bahamas, a chain of 700 islands off the coast of South Florida, in the 1950s. But the sport didn’t take hold culturally until 1972 when the Miami Dolphins, just 90 miles away, completed the first — and still only — undefeated NFL season.

Football’s popularity has ebbed and flowed over the past half-century, with the Commonwealth American Football League, clinics led by former NFL players, including Dan Marino, and the power of television.

The sport experienced another spike in May when Bahamas native Mike Strachan was selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the first pick of the seventh round.

“So many Bahamians became Colts fans,” Strachan said. “It’s crazy.”

The 6-foot-5, 224-pound wide receiver played college football at the University of Charleston in West Virginia, but his beginnings came on the island of Grand Bahama in Freeport. He played organized football growing up despite considerable roadblocks.

“It definitely wasn’t that popular,” Strachan said. “The most popular sport in the Bahamas is track. People understand the game. People would play it more if they had the resources to do it.”

Strachan is no stranger to his native country’s rich track and field history — the Bahamas has 14 Olympic medals since 1992, including seven golds — as he nearly competed in the 400-meter dash at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Football, however, is his first love.

Strachan’s father, Jerome, played college football at Bethune-Cookman and passed down his affection for the game to his young son.

“There is keen interest from youths who want to play the game,” said Simba French, a sportswriter in Nassau. “This was evident when the Bahamas Bowl held football clinics when the teams came down. Hopefully, it gets into the primary schools soon. It was played a lot by Bahamians locally, but the league has to get back up and running.”

In 2014, efforts were made to rejuvenate football across the islands as participation rates have lagged. Clinics were conducted. Texas Southern and Central State played a regular-season game in Nassau. The Bahamas Bowl debuted. There was even discussion about the University of The Bahamas joining an HBCU conference.

“This is a game that we can play, and it can be used as a gateway for our students,” said Daniel Johnson, then-Minister of Youth, Sports, and Culture. “This is going to open doors for us by starting this University of Bahamas team that plays in a league. It will be an experience Bahamian students can have home and abroad, opening scholarship opportunities, and giving young men the opportunities that sports has to offer.”

The plan never came to fruition, but the movement had a two-pronged approach. No. 1: It would be a pathway to education for people who otherwise wouldn’t attend college. No. 2: Because the Bahamas produces fast athletes, many believed it would create an avenue to the NFL, which is easier to attain than going to the NBA.

“What will grow the popularity even more is having the younger kids play the sport,” French said. “Flag football has garnered a lot of interest over the last few years. A lot of fans came out and watched it before the pandemic shut sports down. There is a youth flag football community that would possibly want to play football once that avenue reopens locally.”

After the cancellation of last season’s Bahamas Bowl due to the coronavirus pandemic, all Bahamian fans will be granted free admission to Friday’s game between Toledo and Middle Tennessee State.

“Once the opportunity arises after this game is played, we are hoping within the next five years to introduce American football into our schools,” current Minister of Youth, Sports, and Culture Mario Bowleg said. “We will have the conversations with the professionals and to see how best we can implement it.

“The blueprint has already been drawn out by the American Football League. I’ve spoken with [Bahamian coaches] Obie Roberts and Tony Maycock and they have a plan. The ministry has seen the plan and I support the plan. We just want to get the resources and the equipment to get it started in a few of the schools and, hopefully, we can build on it from there.”

However it unfolds, Strachan wants to be part of the process. He was one of the NFL’s biggest underdog stories during training camp, and he capitalized by not only making the 53-man roster but catching two passes for 26 yards in the season opener.

Strachan is the fourth-born Bahamian NFL player, joining Ed Smith, Jocelyn Borgella, and Devard Darling.

“I could see football growing, branching out, and becoming part of the Bahamas,” Strachan said.” That’s something that I definitely want to be involved in.”

First Published December 15, 2021, 7:46 p.m.