Arizona Bowl

Arizona Bowl
Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl
Stadium	Arizona Stadium
Location	Tucson, Arizona
Operated	2015 – present
Conference tie-ins	Mountain West, Sun Belt
Sponsors
Nova Home Loans (2015–)
2015 matchup
Nevada vs. Colorado State (Nevada 28–23)
2016 matchup
South Alabama vs. Air Force (December 30, 2016)

The Arizona Bowl, officially the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl for sponsorship purposes, is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that began play in the 2015 season. The game, which is held at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, is played between bowl-eligible teams from the Mountain West Conference and Sun Belt Conference.

The inaugural game was held on December 29, 2015, between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Colorado State Rams. It was to be played between teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West, with the Sun Belt as a secondary tie-in. However, due to a lack of bowl-eligible Conference USA and Sun Belt teams to meet the tie-in, the game was ultimately played between Mountain West teams, marking the first time since 1979 that two teams from the same conference appeared in a non-championship bowl.

Alongside the Austin Bowl and Cure Bowl, the Arizona Bowl was one of three new bowl games sanctioned by the NCAA to begin play in the 2015 season (although the Austin Bowl was delayed to 2016, before ultimately being delayed indefinitely due to a moratorium placed on new bowl games by the NCAA). In May 2015, it was reported that the game was to be held at Arizona Stadium, and feature participants from Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference. It marked a return of post-season college football to Tucson, Arizona, which previously hosted the Copper Bowl (the event now known as the Cactus Bowl).