Las Vegas Bowl Starts New Era At Raiders Stadium In 2020 With Pac-12 Team Matched Vs SEC/Big Ten School
The ESPN-owned Las Vegas Bowl has dumped its affiliation with the Mountain West Conference and will feature a match-up of the Pac-12’s number two finisher and a rotation between the SEC’s number three school and the Big Ten’s number three college starting in December 2020 when the bowl game shifts to the new Raiders domed stadium from Sam Boyd Stadium.
It’s no surprise as previous news reports mentioned that the Las Vegas Bowl, which has a title sponsorship with Mitsubishi Motors, would be increasing its stature among college football bowl games with the move to the new 65,000-seat stadium owned by the NFL Raiders.
Raiders President Marc Badain predicted the Las Vegas Bowl arrangement will start a trend of rotating college football conferences affiliated with a bowl game.
It’s a six-year deal from 2020-2025, with the SEC playing the Pac-12 in 2020, 2022 and 2024, while the Pac-12 will tackle the Big Ten in 2021, 2023 and 2025.
Las Vegas Bowl Executive Director John Saccenti said the new bowl game arrangement could open the door to Las Vegas hosting a national championship game or early-season non-conference games.
Saccenti also told LVSB after the announcement that Mitsubishi Motors is interested in extending its title sponsorship to the new bowl game venue. He noted the Raiders stadium hosting the Las Vegas Bowl was an attraction for Mitsubishi in the game’s naming rights from the start.
In an interview after the announcement, Badain told LVSportsBiz.com that the first crack at the Raiders stadium hosting a college football title game is 2026, while the Raiders are trying to get a Super Bowl for Las Vegas in 2025 — the first available open year to host the NFL title match.
Badain said the Las Vegas entertainment infrastructure of having an airport and so many rooms within a five-mile radius of the new Raiders stadium is a strong attraction for event organizers.
You can see interviews with Badain, Saccenti and LVCVA chief Steve Hill on Alan Snel’s Facebook page. Here is the Badain interview on Snel’s Facebook page.
Adding a rotation of the SEC and Big Ten to the Las Vegas Bowl, with a Pac-12 school serving as annual team is a big deal for the bowl game, which made the announcement today on the 55th floor of The Palms. A performer in an Elvis outfit greeted reporters as they entered the room.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and Big Ten Commissioner James Delany were all on hand for the announcement.
It was the new Raiders stadium, a $1.34 billion venue that’s part of a $1.8 billion stadium project scheduled to open July 31, 2020, that opened the door to the new conference affiliations.
Badain joined Hill Hill and the conference commissioners for the pep rally-style announcement. Brent Musburger narrated a video that ran for the local business leaders.
The bowl game debuted in 1992 and will now be staged between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It’s the first time the Pac-12 conference is tied to a bowl game affiliated with the SEC.
In 1902, the Pac-12 began playing the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl, Pac-12 Commissioner Scott said.
