2019 Arizona Bowl to kick off on New Year’s Eve
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD News 13) – Maximizing its annual pledge to deliver a world-class football experience in the true spirit of celebration, the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl today announced that its 2019 game will kick off at Arizona Stadium on December 31. While the official game time has yet to be announced, bowl executives expect a mid-afternoon start which will enable fans to enjoy a host of associated post-game activities that will extend the celebration through the midnight hour.
The announcement was made at downtown Tucson’s Hotel Congress, complete with the staging, music, sparkling wine, and other appointments indicative of a New Year’s Eve celebration. With this year’s theme of “New Year, New Traditions,” the bowl also touched on a series of announcements to be made later this year tied to its commitment to innovation, improvement, and imagination.
In addition to the new date, plans were announced for a Downtown New Year’s Eve Bowl Bash, a community event that will amplify the energy at Arizona Stadium earlier in the day and draw it out to Tucson’s dynamic downtown that evening, where entertainment, fireworks, live performances, food vendors, a beer garden, and other bowl-related activities will be hosted throughout the night.
“Tucson’s biggest football game of the year will be followed by its biggest party of the year, which can only be played on the biggest day of the year, New Year’s Eve,” said Kym Adair, executive director of the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. “The bowl will become Tucson’s newest New Year’s Eve tradition and one that can’t be missed.”
The charitable spirit that has defined the bowl since its debut in 2015 was prominent at today’s event as well, with five local non-profit organizations presented with checks totaling more than $100,000 for their work in the community. They include The Centurions, Tucson Conquistadores, Tucson Indian Center, Tucson Pet Sanctuary, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson.
Over the past four years, the bowl has donated more than $3.5 million in charitable grants, game tickets for first responders, teachers, military, and other community heroes, university funding, and other contributions, and is one of the only bowls in college football today that donates 100 percent of net proceeds to charities.