Holiday Bowl Tickets

The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Washington State Cougars will soon step out on the hallowed turf of the Qualcomm Stadium for the latest edition of the Holiday Bowl. If football is your sport, then this is your chance to be part of the action live.

The History

In the year 1977, Arizona State and Arizona quit the Western Athletic Conference to make the switch to the Pacific-8 Conference. The WAC had an automatic bid for the Fiesta Bowl but that now had to be changed, especially because Arizona State used to be the host of the Fiesta Bowl as well. It was decided to give WAC a Bowl bid and that resulted in the inception of the Holiday Bowl.

Big changes

During the first few initial years, the champions of the WAC used to play an at-large side at the Holiday Bowl. Between 1991 and 1994, the second bid was awarded to the Big Ten Conference. The Big Eight then took the place of the Big Ten in 1995 and the Big Eight then went on to become the Big 12 a year later.

The Western Athletic Conference that had an automatic place reserved at the Holiday Bowl had to change plans too. Its bid had to be split with the Cotton Bowl. What that basically meant was that if the WAC Champions had to headline the Cotton Bowl, their place at the Holiday Bowl would be filled by a Pac-10 side. That arrangement ended in the year 1997 when the WAC decided to distance itself from the Holiday Bowl altogether. The game began to be contested between Pac-10 and Big 12 sides.

Between 1998 and 2009, the Holiday Bowl featured the number third seeded Big 12 side and the second seeded Pac-12 team. Alamo Bowl then made a stronger bid and took that arrangement away from the Holiday Bowl. The Holiday Bowl increased the tickets prices to match the Alamo Bowl’s purse and between 2010 and 2013, the Holiday Bowl was contested between the number five team from the Big 12 and the number third team from the Pac-12.

The Big Ten then made a return to the Holiday Bowl in 2014 and signed a contract spanning six years. Because of this arrangement, the Holiday Bowl sees the number three Pac-12 team take on the number four Big Ten side.

Most appearances

BYU Cougars have made the most trips to the Holiday Bowl with eleven. Second on the list are the Texas Longhorns with five appearances against their name. The Washington Huskies, the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Nebraska Cornhuskers share the third spot with four Holiday Bowl trips to their credit.

Most wins

The BYU Cougars also top the list with most Holiday Bowl triumphs. They have won the title on four occasions. The Texas Longhorns and the Kansas State Wildcats have won it three times each. The Iowa Hawkeyes, the Oregon Ducks, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have lifted the Holiday Bowl title twice each.

Biggest attendances

Thousands of fans make their way to the Holiday Bowl to see the game live. The biggest crowd was the game was recorded in 2005 when 65,416 fans turned up to watch the encounter between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oregon Ducks. 65,345 fans watched the clash between the Arizona Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1998. The third biggest Holiday Bowl attendance of 64,607 was recorded in 2009 for another game between the Wildcats and the Cornhuskers.

The time has come for the Holiday Bowl to take center stage once again. This will be Washington State Cougars’ third trip to the Holiday Bowl while the Minnesota Golden Gophers will be making their debut. It is all set up for a humdinger of a clash. Book your Holiday Bowl tickets and watch the two teams collide live.