“We’re gonna play a football game!” That was the declaration of Rick Schloss, director of media relations at the San Diego Bowl Game Association, which puts on the annual college football game. The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl has become a tradition in San Diego that also includes concerts, a parade, and a 5K run on game day. The annual bowl game pits a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) against a team from the PAC-12 Conference. Last year, the North Carolina State Wolfpack was selected from the ACC to vie against the UCLA Bruins from the PAC-12. That game was canceled hours before kickoff due to Covid precautions in one of the most unprecedented events in San Diego sports history. But this year, the game is coming back to Downtown to be the first football game to be played at Petco Park.
The 43rd edition of the bowl pits the Oregon Ducks against the North Carolina Tar Heels. This is the Ducks fourth time at the San Diego bowl and the first time an ACC team, this time from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will be in the bowl.
“I think without the Covid restrictions – and getting healthier – hopefully, we’re not gonna face what we did last year and have the game canceled the day of the game,” noted an optimistic Schloss. “I think that’s the most important and positive thing that the game is coming back Downtown– and it’s finally gonna happen. I mean last year, it was kind of like going to the altar and not getting married!”
The game will be played at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and will be broadcast nationally on Fox. This year, the bowl game will also include the 101.5 KGB Sky Show, which itself is a legendary San Diego event. Having football and the Sky Show together Downtown will be a historic first that promises to be an epic show.
Mark Neville, who is the CEO of the SDCCU Holiday Bowl, was able to grab the KGB Sky Show for this year’s Holiday Bowl, which brings added interest to the annual event. “I can’t tell you how excited we are that the SDCCU Holiday Bowl is now the home of the KGB Sky Show,” said Neville. “Thanks to this partnership and our friends at iHeart, the fan experience at San Diego’s bowl game will be off the charts and the best in the country. Our fans are in for quite a night!”
This year’s Sky Show will celebrate KGB’s 50th anniversary and the Sky Show’s 45th anniversary by lighting up the San Diego skyline over Petco Park with its spectacular fireworks display. First launched in 1976, the KGB Sky Show is an eye-popping and crowd-pleasing fireworks display synchronized to music and broadcast over the radio at 101.5 FM and streamed live through the iHeartRadio App. The 2022 version of Sky Show will be unlike any other, featuring innovative effects in its revamped program.
“After Covid canceled the 101.5 KGB Sky Show the last few years, we knew we wanted to come back bigger and better than ever,” said Noreen Ippolito, market president of iHeart Media San Diego. “Merging the country’s best bowl game with America’s finest city and now adding the 101.5 KGB Sky Show – this will be a bowl game experience like no other, ending the night with the largest fireworks show. We are thrilled to be partnering with the SDCCU Holiday Bowl.”
KGB program director Shauna Moran added, “We are so excited for the return of the KGB Sky Show and our new partnership with The SDDCU Holiday Bowl. This merger, in addition to our beautiful new venue Petco Park, has made our creative juices flow! There will be new and exciting elements never seen before in a Sky Show! You don’t want to miss it!”
Schloss also mentioned that the two college football teams would visit SeaWorld as part of the event as well as tour the San Diego-based aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. The Holiday Bowl will also activate Downtown with many coordinated events that will pump revenue into local businesses.
“I think the big thing is that the Sky Show is coming and at the end of the game the people are going to see something different that they’ve never seen before in the Holiday Bowl,” Schloss added. “Tickets went on sale to the general public on Oct. 26 and we got a really good start to the ticket sales. A lot of people bought tickets up top because you know, it’s the best vantage point for the Sky Show. So it’s proven to be a really good deal that’s going to happen and people are really fired up about it!”
