sa国际传媒官网网页入口

For the first time in two years, the New Mexico Bowl is set to return to its traditional pre-Christmas slot 鈥� by a little under 12 hours.

The Isleta New Mexico Bowl will be played on Thursday, Dec. 24 鈥� Christmas Eve 鈥� at 12:30 p.m., ESPN Events announced Wednesday via release.

While the game鈥檚 last two editions have been played after Dec. 25, the ESPN Events-produced bowl was played before Christmas Day for 18 years before moving to late December the last two years.

The New Mexico Bowl has only been played on Christmas Eve once before: 2020, when Hawaii beat Houston 28-14 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. The game was played out of state due to COVID-19 restrictions in New Mexico, making it the lone edition of the bowl to not be played at University Stadium in sa国际传媒官网网页入口.

New Mexico Bowl executive director Jeff Siembieda said the bowl landed on Christmas Eve after conducting 鈥渋nformal surveys鈥� to see how the game鈥檚 placement would be received. He added that most college football coaches he鈥檚 spoken with prefer a pre-Christmas bowl for logistical purposes.

鈥淭he Christmas Eve part, it鈥檚 a family day,鈥� Siembieda said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e not trying to take away from the family day 鈥� I think we believe this will add to it, where people can go out (early), have a great time, enjoy the state鈥檚 premier annual sporting event and then be free for their traditions and their family time.鈥�

The New Mexico Bowl will also receive a standalone TV slot via ESPN, something Siembieda said the game hasn鈥檛 received in 鈥渁 number of years.鈥� The only other college football game scheduled for the same date is the Hawaii Bowl, a Christmas Eve mainstay.

Nineteen of the New Mexico Bowl鈥檚 last 20 editions have been played on a Saturday. Scheduling the game on a Thursday helped secure a friendlier TV window, Siemebieda said.

鈥淭hat Saturday lineup, there鈥檚 a lot more TV traffic,鈥� he added. 鈥淪o the fact that it was a standalone window, pre-Christmas 鈥� We really believe that this is going to be something that could be really, really cool.鈥�

Despite the date shifting, the New Mexico Bowl鈥檚 conference tie-ins remain unchanged. The game will pit a team from the Mountain West against one from Conference USA, the American Conference, the Sun Belt or the MAC.

Here are the other bowls with guaranteed Mountain West tie-ins this year:

-Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 21)

-Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24)

-Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl (TBD)

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at .