From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Las Vegas Bowl
Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl
Pioneer Purevision Las Vegas Bowl logo (2003-2006)
Stadium	Sam Boyd Stadium
Location	Las Vegas, Nevada
Operated	1992-present
Conference Tie-ins	MWC, Pac-10
Previous Conference Tie-ins	Big West, MAC (1992-96) WAC (1997-1998)
Payout	US$950,000 (2006)
Sponsors
EA Sports (1999) Sega/Sega Sports (2001-2002) Pioneer PureVision (2004-Present)
Former names
EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl (1999) Sega Sports Las Vegas Bowl (2001-2002)) Pioneer Purevision Las Vegas Bowl (2003-2006)
2006 Matchup
BYU vs. Oregon (BYU 38, Oregon 8)
2007 Matchup
BYU vs. UCLA (December 22, 2007, 5p.m. PST - ESPN)

The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1992. Since 2001, the game has featured a matchup of teams from the Pac-10 and Mountain West conferences. From 1992 to 1996, matchups featured teams from the Big West and Mid-American Conference. From 1997 to 1998, matchups featured a representative from the Western Athletic Conference and an at-large bid. From 1999 to 2000, matchups featured a representative from the newly formed Mountain West Conference and an at-large bid.

Since 2006, the Las Vegas bowl gets first choice of Mountain West Conference teams. This would normally be the conference champion unless that team qualifies for the BCS (previously, the Mountain West Champion faced off against the Conference USA champion in the Liberty Bowl from the formation of the conference in 1998 until 2005, when the contract ran out).

The game originated from the California Bowl, which was played in Fresno from 1981-1991. In 1992, the game reorganized and relocated to Las Vegas and was renamed the Las Vegas Bowl.

In 1995, Toledo defeated Nevada, 40-37, in the first ever overtime game in Division I-A college football. The following season the policy of overtime was adopted for regular season games to break ties.

The bowl was known as the SEGA Sports Las Vegas Bowl from 2001 to 2002. With a new sponsor, it is currently called the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl. The owner of the bowl is ESPN Regional Television, better known by the popular name ESPN Plus. ^[1]

In December 25, 2002. UCLA interim coach Ed Kezirian was victorious in his only game as the UCLA Bruins head coach; UCLA won 27-13 over the New Mexico Lobos. An interesting note from that game was that when New Mexico sent Katie Hnida out to kick an extra point, Katie became the first woman to play in a Division I-A college football game. The kick was blocked, so UCLA was not the first team to be scored upon by a woman in a Division I-A game.

• Official Site