Many University of Iowa football fans are livid that the school’s marching band will not play during halftime of the Cheez It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Kevin Carlson of Davenport, a 1995 Iowa alum who played tenor drums in the Marching Band Drumline, organized a change.org petition Thursday, Dec. 7 to protest the move, and it already has 4,635 signatures by Friday noon, with the hashtag #letthebandsplay. It’s not only the Citrus Bowl, Carlson said, noting The Pop Tarts Bowl and the Frisco Bowl are also curbing band participation.

“Hawkeye fans and fans of all marching arts are not taking the decision to snub bands at bowl games lying down,” he said Friday. The organizers of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando have decided to prevent the marching bands from The University of Iowa and the University of Tennessee from both playing at halftime of the bowl game.

In place of both bands at halftime, the organizers chose the Hawkeyes marching band to play a morning pregame show Jan. 1, and the Tennessee marching band to perform at halftime, which will feature a promotional performance by Gavin DeGraw.

“Marching bands are a part of the college football game day culture and these hundreds of performers dedicate thousands of hours towards entertaining fans,” the online petition says. “They work nights, weekends, and practice on their own time, just for the opportunity to play in front of their fans.

“A bowl game should be the culmination of that work and dedication, but the organizers of the Cheez-Its Citrus Bowl have ripped that away from these performers,” the website says. “Once a culture of paid promotion takes over one halftime, others will be sure to follow.”

The petition says The Pop Tarts Bowl and the Frisco Bowl are similarly snubbing deserving marching band programs. “The Marshall University Marching Thunder, Pride of the Southland Band, K-State Marching Band, and the NC State Marching Band all need our voices raised,” the site says.

Tennessee is performing at the Citrus Bowl halftime and Iowa is performing pregame. Both will have a full seven-minute set, according to the bowl’s Facebook page.

Starting three hours before kickoff (at 10 a.m.), fans can enjoy a private VIP area next to Camping World Stadium featuring lounge seating, all-inclusive food and beverage, live music and more, and that event has a ticket price of $100, according to the bowl website. Game tickets start at $78.

“It’s important to me because I know the hard work that goes into a marching season and the reward is being able to play for your fans,” Carlson said Friday. “This is being taken away from these musicians in favor of promoting paid industry talent. College sports can still have at least one element that hasn’t been corrupted by business and money. One element that is still pure college experience for the students.

“The Hawkeye Marching Band has always traveled to bowl games and in my experience, the organizers of the bowl games treated us very well and appreciated our participation,” Carlson said, noting he got to play for the Alamo and Holiday Bowl games. “The fans deserve better, but ultimately these people should get to fully experience what their long hours have earned them.”

Many Hawkeye fans lambasted the halftime decision on the bowl game’s Facebook page. A sample:

• “Iowa has so many band families spending lots of money to travel to Florida to see their kids perform and you are taking their halftime performance away from them. What a slap in the face for them after all the hours and months of hard work.”

• “I couldn’t care less that Gavin DeGraw was nominated for a Grammy 10 years ago, nor that he had a top 10 chart 20 years ago. The fact remains that this is an event for student athletes, you have two of the finest collegiate marching bands in the country and a student dance group, and you’ve chosen to screw all of them over for a singer who hasn’t been relevant in a decade. You had a chance to have a top-notch College game day experience in Orlando, but instead you’ve chosen to turn this into a half rate commercial circus. Shame on you.”

• “Let the bands play! These students have earned this opportunity through hard work and dedication to their school and football team. I am a proud Hawkeye Marching Band alumni and for all of the bowl games we attended, we always played pregame and halftime. This has saddened our students and they so richly deserve to entertain your fans.”

On Thursday, the bowl’s Facebook page responded to one of many such complaints, saying that “the announcement of Grammy-nominated singer Gavin DeGraw’s halftime show performance did not affect the marching band timing. His performance replaced another element of our halftime show, a travel group dance performance that moved to pregame before the Hawkeye Band performance.”

The standard to reply to most of the negative comments was that both bands are playing on game day.

To sign the online petition, click HERE.