June 6 – Maybe some New Mexico Bowl tickets would be a good option to stock up on this year.
For the first time in the 19-year history of the state’s annual college football game, held every December in Albuquerque, the game will take place after Christmas.
Due to some reshuffling of the traditional bowl season schedule due to the expansion of the 12-game College Football Playoffs beginning this year, the ESPN-owned Isleta New Mexico Bowl will begin on ESPN at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, December. 28, featuring a team from the Mountain West Conference and a team from Conference USA, the American Athletic Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, or the MidAmerican Conference.
The New Mexico Bowl has occurred on the third Saturday of December for 17 of its first 18 years (the COVID-related move to Frisco, Texas, on Christmas Eve 2020 being the exception).
“I’m excited about this opportunity,” New Mexico Bowl Executive Director Jeff Siembieda told the Journal. “Bowl games have been held on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th for years in the communities. I’m excited to do something a little different for our community and hold an event that has been so, so positive for this community, and to see it happen at a different time, in a different place on the calendar, I think it should be fantastic.”
This year, the CFP will begin with one of its four first-round games on Friday, December 20th, and three more first-round games on Saturday, December 21st – the third Saturday in December.
When it was agreed by all bowls not to schedule games on December 21 for this first year of the 12-team playoff, the New Mexico Bowl probably could have explored weekday options or perhaps even expanded the schedule to be played in December. .14, the day when two bowl games – the non-FBS Cricket Celebration Bowl and the Camellia Bowl – will now be shared with the annual Army/Navy game. But that would likely not only reduce travel possibilities for fans, but also create a tight turnaround for teams that could play conference championship games in the first week of December.
One potential advantage of moving the New Mexico Bowl dates to the week between Christmas and New Year’s is that more people will be able to have time off from work and more schools will be closed for winter break, meaning potentially more fans will be able to travel to Duke City. .
New Mexico Bowl teams and fans begin arriving in Albuquerque every year on the Wednesday of bowl week, which this year will be Christmas Day. Siembieda acknowledged that this will require some bowl partners and employees to work the holiday, but said those he has spoken to so far are eager to do so, with the result that new people will be able to experience the state during the holiday season.
The New Mexico Bowl played on the fourth Saturday in December is not necessarily a permanent change. Bowl times and dates may change from year to year.
In 2022, the bowl resisted the traditional noon start time for a 5:30 p.m. start.
Siembieda, who is in his first year serving on the eight-person Bowl Season Executive Committee, noted that there was some initial concern leading up to the 2022 game, which featured BYU and SMU.
“It was kind of out of our traditional timing and there were some, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do?’” Siembieda said. “We had an unbelievable game, great TV numbers and it was great. Yes, it was cold and it was a change, but it worked out really well.”
