SAN DIEGO — The Holiday Bowl is coming to Snapdragon Stadium this year.
The San Diego Padres and Sports San Diego on Tuesday announced the bowl will move from Petco Park to Snapdragon Stadium in December.
Petco Park hosted the Holiday Bowl for two seasons: 2022 and 2023. Padres CEO Erik Greupner said hosting it was an "honor."
“Keeping the game in San Diego at a time when there weren’t any other viable options was vitally important to the Holiday Bowl, our community and local economy," Greupner said in a news release.
San Diego has hosted the Holiday Bowl since it started in 1978. It was played at San Diego Stadium through 2019 and moved to Petco Park after the COVID-19 pandemic, for 2022 and 2023.
"The Holiday Bowl is a great event and wonderful San Diego tradition," Greupner said. "We will continue our promise to be more than a ballpark by hosting world-class concerts and events at Petco Park in the future. We wish the Holiday Bowl many years of successful and exciting games at their new venue.”
Petco Park hosts concerts year-round in addition to the Padres' home baseball schedule. It has hosted other sporting events, too, including international soccer matches, rugby tournaments and monster truck and dirt bike events.
”The DIRECTV Holiday Bowl had a great run at Petco Park, and we are so appreciative to the San Diego Padres for being tremendous hosts,” said Sports San Diego CEO Mark Neville. “The Holiday Bowl is an important event for San Diego, and the Padres were there for us when SDCCU Stadium was razed. Petco Park is an incredible venue, one for which our community is lucky to have.”
WATCH RELATED: San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade 2023 | United Lowrider Coalition
