Holiday Bowl Tickets

2009 Holiday Bowl:
Arizona vs. Nebraska

In 1978, the Holiday Bowl college football games sanctioned by Division 1-A of the NCAA was first played at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. There was a similarly named Holiday Bowl played in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1957 to 1960 but this is not in any way related to the 1978 Holiday Bowl.

Today, the bowl is officially renamed Pacific Life Holiday Bowl after Pacific Life Insurance became its main sponsor. In the past, the known sponsors were the likes of Plymouth, SeaWorld, Culligan and Thrifty Car Rental, among others.

The game in 1980 Holiday Bowl descended in post-season college football history as the miracle bowl. Brigham Young University or BYU, who played in the bowl for 11 years, gaining 7 championships in all, miraculously erased Southern Methodist’s 20-point lead with less than 4 minutes in the game. Since then, fans called it the BYU Bowl.

But BYU’s reign as a champion in the Holiday Bowl resulted to mediocre matches, such as the one with Michigan in 1984. Obviously, the opponent is no match to the BYU team, but major leagues failed to notice the defect in system which is supposed to be followed in Bowl Championship Series. The rule in approving matches was changed lately to prevent the bad experience in the 1984 match.

The Holiday Bowl also features the Wiener Nationals, a championship event for Dachshund dog races, a peculiar event not found in other bowls. Buy your tickets now to watch two events in one, with the Pac 10 and the Big 12 squads facing off on December 20, 2008 (5:00 pm) at the Qualcomm. Holiday Bowl tickets are available online!