New Mexico Bowl

Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Stadium	University Stadium
Location	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Operated	2006–present
Conference tie-ins	MWC, C-USA
Previous conference tie-ins	WAC (2006–10), Pac-12 (2012–13)
Payout	US$912,500
Sponsors
Gildan (2011–present)
Former names
New Mexico Bowl (2006–2010)
2016 matchup
UTSA vs. New Mexico (New Mexico 23–20)

The New Mexico Bowl (officially known since 2011 as the Gildan New Mexico Bowl for sponsorship reasons) is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since its founding, the bowl has been typically scheduled before Christmas as one of the first of the season. In 2011, clothing manufacturer Gildan became the first title sponsor for the game.

Beginning with the 2014 game, the New Mexico Bowl features a team from the Mountain West Conference and a team from Conference USA, provided both conferences have enough bowl eligible teams. If one or both conferences does not, the bowl selection committee chooses an at-large team from another conference. In August 2013, it was announced that Conference USA had signed an agreement to send a regional team to participate in the game for six seasons beginning in 2014 replacing the Pac-12 Conference. From 2006 to 2010, a team from the Mountain West played a team from the Western Athletic Conference.

ESPN, whose ESPN Regional Television division (also known as ESPN Plus) supervises the bowl activities as one of the 11 bowl games they run, is the television home for the game. The game is the only annually nationally televised sporting event in the state of New Mexico. The 2006 contest was the first bowl game played in New Mexico, seeing the San Jose State Spartans defeat the New Mexico Lobos 20–12. The 2012 game was the highest-scoring and closest New Mexico Bowl of all-time and ended with two Arizona touchdowns in the final 42 seconds of play.