After eight name and four venue changes, the Cactus Bowl will return to Arizona State’s Mountain America Stadium for the first time since 2015.
“We look at this as an incredible opportunity, certainly for the Valley and the state, that we can continue to welcome people from all over the country to the Valley at such a wonderful time of the year,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said Thursday.
The nationally televised game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. MST Dec. 26 on ABC.
The Cactus Bowl, which is managed by the Fiesta Sports Foundation, has had a long and storied history with deep ties to the state. Tucson served as the first home of the then-Copper Bowl in 1989. Since then, the event has bounced around the desert, from Tucson’s Arizona Stadium (1989–1999) to Chase Field (2000-2005) to then-Sun Devil Stadium (2006-2015) to Chase Field again (2016-25).
Erik Moses, executive director and CEO of the Fiesta Sports Foundation, praised Tempe and Mountain America Stadium organizers for their past contributions to the bowl and the environment they create around the event.
“It’s the kind of environment that college football fans expect, with seats right on top of the action, familiar sight lines and the kind of amenities that football atmospheres have,” he said.
Tempe officials are pleased, too.
“This brings in so many people into our city, and we were really excited about that as we had just redone our old downtown,” Tempe Vice City Mayor Doreen Garland said.
An average of 39,671 fans attended 36 games (organizers canceled the 2020 game due to COVID-19 ramifications), with 10 games at then-Sun Devil Stadium averaging 44,800. The most attended game was the 2011 Insight Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Iowa – with 54,247 fans at the Tempe stadium.
The most recent game between New Mexico and Minnesota had an attendance of 27,439 fans, which was the highest for the bowl among the last five games.
As the venue has shifted over the years, so has the title sponsor and the bowl has undergone eight name changes throughout its history.
1989–1996: Copper Bowl
1997–2011: Insight Bowl
2012–2013: Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
2014: TicketCity Cactus Bowl
2015–2017: Cactus Bowl
2018–2019: Cheez-It Bowl
2020–2023: Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2024–present: Rate Bowl
The original name came when the game began in Tucson as a lower-tier bowl tied to Arizona’s copper industry identity. A notable time period was the “Cactus Bowl,” when the name continued without a title sponsor for a short stretch from 2015-2017 before Cheeze-it sponsored it and then Guaranteed Rate, which eventually shortened the bowl name to “Rate Bowl” in 2024.
“Reviving the Cactus Bowl name was important,” Moses said. “Our objective is pretty clear: We want to tie the game to its Arizona roots and our greatest destination.”
Its Big 12 and Big Ten conference tie-ins will continue, giving the game a recognizable identity and cold-weather fans an opportunity for warmer conditions in late December.
Former Notre Dame football player Nick Smith, the executive vice president of Fiesta Sports echoed the excitement expressed about the game and environment in December.
It's “perfect,” he said.
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