Holiday Bowl | |
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San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl | |
Stadium | Qualcomm Stadium |
Location | San Diego, California |
Operated | 1978–present |
Conference tie-ins |
Pac-12 (1997–present) Big Ten (1991–94; 2014–present) |
Previous conference tie-ins |
WAC (1978–97) Big 12 (1995–2013) |
Payout | US$2,825,000 (As of 2015[update]) |
Sponsors | |
SeaWorld (1986–1990)
Thrifty Car Rental (1991–1994) Plymouth (1995–1997) Culligan (1998–2001) Pacific Life Insurance Company (2002–2009) Bridgepoint Education (2010–2012) National University (2013–2014) National Funding (2015–2016) San Diego County Credit Union (2017-) |
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Former names | |
Holiday Bowl (1978–85)
Sea World Holiday Bowl (1986–90) Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl (1991–94) Plymouth Holiday Bowl (1995–97) Culligan Holiday Bowl (1998–2001) Pacific Life Holiday Bowl (2002–09) Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (2010–12) National University Holiday Bowl (2013–14) National Funding Holiday Bowl (2015-2016) |
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2015 matchup | |
Wisconsin vs. USC (Wisconsin 23–21) | |
2016 matchup | |
Minnesota vs. Washington State (December 27, 2016) |
Coordinates: 32°46′59″N 117°7′10″W / 32.78306°N 117.11944°W
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played annually since 1978 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, United States. Since the 2014 edition, it has featured a matchup of Pac-12 and Big Ten teams.
The Holiday Bowl was founded to give the Western Athletic Conference an automatic bowl bid after the Fiesta Bowl, which previously had a tie in with the game, ended its association with the WAC following Arizona and Arizona State (the latter of which served as the game's host) leaving the conference to join the Pacific-8 Conference in 1977. Thus, the Holiday Bowl inherited the Fiesta Bowl's former WAC ties and gave the conference's champion its automatic bid. For the first several years, the WAC champion played an at-large team in the Holiday Bowl. Beginning in 1991 and continuing until 1994, the Big Ten Conference was given the second bid, provided it had enough bowl eligible teams.