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Event Information:
The
Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by
Frito-Lay and named with their
Tostitos brand, is a United States
college football bowl game played
annually at the University of
Phoenix Stadium in Glendale,
Arizona. Between its origination in
1971 and 2006, the game was hosted
in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil
Stadium. Previous sponsors included
Sunkist and IBM. In 1998, the Fiesta
Bowl became part of the Bowl
Championship Series (BCS), and
before 2007 every four years (most
recently in 2003) was the designee
for the national championship game.
The
Fiesta Bowl was born from the
Western Athletic Conference's
frustrated attempts to obtain bowl
invitations for its champions. In
1968 and 1969 respectively,
champions Wyoming and Arizona State
failed to secure any bowl selection.
The next year, undefeated Arizona
State was bypassed by the major
bowls and had to settle for an
appearance in the less prestigious
Peach Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl
therefore initially provided an
automatic bowl tie-in for the
Western Athletic Conference
champion.
The
1971 inaugural game featured another
top-ten Arizona State squad against
top-twenty opponent Florida State.
By 1975, the game was able to
attract Big Eight co-champion
Nebraska to play undefeated Arizona
State in a matchup of top-five
teams. In 1977, the game was again
able to attract a top-five opponent
in Penn State, despite WAC champion
#16 BYU refusing to play in the bowl
due to it being held on Sunday. In
1978, Arizona and Arizona State both
joined the Pac-10 Conference and the
Fiesta Bowl's tie-in with the
Western Athletic Conference ended.
University of Phoenix Stadium,
opened August 1, 2006, is a
multipurpose football stadium
located in Glendale, Arizona. It is
the home of the Arizona Cardinals of
the National Football League (NFL)
and the annual Fiesta Bowl. The
stadium is located next door to the
Jobing.com Arena and it features the
first fully retractable natural
grass playing surface built in the
United States on top of an AirField
Systems drainage system. An opening
on one side of the stadium allows
the playing field to move to the
exterior of the building, allowing
the entire natural turf playing
surface to be exposed to daylight.
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