The Holiday Bowl is coming to downtown San Diego.
For the first time in the game’s history it is being played at Petco Park, home of the Padres. It’s in the Gaslamp/East Village area of San Diego and is a dynamic area full of bars and restaurant/bars.
I happen to live a few blocks away so when this was announced, I was excited to check out a few elements of the bowl’s atmosphere. However, after looking up the planned events, I realized that I will not be enjoying hardly any of them. That is because corporate sponsorships are ruining bowl games.
The problem with corporate sponsorships is that the atmosphere becomes, too, well corporate. And in my book that means boring. It also means expensive. Prohibitively expensive.
The Holiday Bowl, taking place Dec. 28 between N.C. State and UCLA (well it was canceled less than five hours before kickoff by UCLA due to COVID protocol issues tho the AD did it on Twitter which infuriated NC State officials, is just one of the 40-something corporate-sponsored bowls, but here’s examples from this game:
• Ticket Prices. The least expensive ticket is $90. Ninety bucks! Two years ago for the last Holiday Bowl it was $35.
• Bowl Bash Concert. On the evening of the 27th, there is a concert in the little park behind Petco (called Gallagher Park, not named after the comedian, by the way) featuring four aging touring bands: A Flock of Seagull, The English Beat, Missing Person and Taylor Dayne. That’s all fine but tickets are a whopping $40 for standing and $55 for seats. Why not have a couple of fun local bands and charge $10-15? There is a worthwhile charity aspect to it, tho, as $5 from every ticket sold will be donated to Rady Children’s Hospital. Still, I’ll watch/listen to it from a neighboring bar. For feee.
• Pep rally. Whenever corporate sponsors take control of something spirited like a pep rally, you can forget about all the pep. It’s all about the dollars. At the Holiday Bowl, they are holding it in a wedding events venue on J Street by the stadium. Heck it should be ON J Street, as in a block party.
Now you would think this event would be free – after all, what really fun person would want to go inside a venue for a pep rally – but no! Tickets are $90. Let me repeat this: tickets are 90 dollars! It comes with beer and wine (not sure if you have to buy it there but probably and no cocktails are mentioned on the Holiday Bowl’s website), a “delicious” buffet and oh wow, a photo booth.
For 90 bucks, I better get free beer plus drinks and a Jimmy Buffett concert.
Free Holiday Bowl Events
To be fair, there are two free events, a so-called Bowl Bash on the 27th on Fifth Ave., featuring a “battle of the bands” (starts at 5 p.m.) and a parade down Harbor Drive the day of the game beginning at 10 a.m. You can purchase grandstand seats for it and I have no problem with that because that is a good way for families to see parades.
Maybe the parade will be cool but it ends on Harbor Drive; I would have it end at the stadium followed by an open party at Gallagher for a couple of hours.
Missing Team Pep Rallies
I have tried and tried to find information on pep rallies for each team to no avail. This information is usually posted on the bowl’s website or at the very least the school’s athletic department’s website. So far I have found nothing.
They involve the the band, cheerleaders and fans in a real rah-rah event. I love these because I love the college spirit, even tho I have no rooting interest in either team. Is this another casualty of the corporate sponsorship of bowl games?
Gawd, I hope not.
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