SAN DIEGO–A college bowl game that is annually one of the highest-profile sponsorships by a credit union in the country was cancelled just hours before it was to be played on Tuesday night.
The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl was called off after UCLA pulled out around 3:30 p.m. ET citing COVID-19 issues among Bruins players. The game had been set for 8 p.m. ET.
That left the North Carolina Wolfpack, which had flown cross-country for the game that was to be nationally broadcast on ESPN, without an opponent.
This is the second year in a row the game has been cancelled. In 2020, the game was also not played due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The credit union had previously sponsored the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. But in 2017 the San Diego Bowl Association said it wanted to focus on just one college bowl game, the Holiday Bowl, and SDCCU assumed sponsorship in 2017. The game had previously been played in San Diego County Credit Union Stadium, the former home of the former San Diego Chargers, which is now being replaced and to which SDCCU had bought naming rights.
A New Venue
This year’s Holiday Bowl was to be played in Petco Park, home to baseball’s Padres. It would have been the first football game played in the downtown park.
San Diego County Credit Union earlier talked about the sponsorship with CUToday.info here.
"We are extremely grateful to the Holiday Bowl, students, fans, sponsors and the people of San Diego for their support this week," UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. "We are deeply disappointed for our young men in the football program that worked extremely hard for this opportunity. My heart goes out to them. The health and safety of our students will always be our North Star."
The Holiday Bowl is the fifth bowl game to be canceled this year because of COVID-19 issues with at least one of the participating teams, joining the Arizona Bowl, Hawai'i Bowl, Fenway Bowl and Military Bowl.