Gildan New Mexico Bowl Slated For Saturday, Dec. 15

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 13th-annual Gildan New Mexico Bowl will take place on the FBS Bowl season opening day, Saturday, Dec. 15, at noon MT/2 p.m. ET. The game will be played at Dreamstyle Stadium in Albuquerque, and will air nationally on ESPN.

“It is great to be able to once again showcase our great state and our event on the opening day of the bowl season,” said Jeff Siembieda, Gildan New Mexico Bowl executive director. “The celebration of college football around this game has become a wonderful tradition over the past 13 years and I am very happy that the FBS bowl season will start in Albuquerque.”

The Gildan New Mexico Bowl will be played on opening day of the bowl season for the 11th consecutive year. As the first game on tap from 2010-2013, it provided multiple storybook endings. Last year was no different as the Marshall Thundering Herd put together three astonishing scoring plays that held off the Colorado State Rams, 31-28. The Rams’ much-hyped, explosive offense was overshadowed by junior quarterback Chase Litton, who threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns, and his Colorado State counterpart, quarterback Nick Stevens, was sacked five times.

The 2018 Gildan New Mexico Bowl is scheduled to feature teams from the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA. The leagues have been pitted against each other three times in the bowl game. Marshall’s win in 2017 gave C-USA its first win in the series, which is 2-1.

Tickets for the Gildan New Mexico Bowl range from $25-$40 and are available at the University of New Mexico ticket office and at www.unmtickets.com.

The Gildan New Mexico Bowl is one of 14 games owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.

ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 12 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

Collegiate Football
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston); AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Frisco Bowl (Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Atlanta); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan (Atlanta) and Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)

Collegiate Basketball

AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Fort Bliss, Texas); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s  Classic presented by Corona (New York City); Jimmy V Women’s Classic presented by Corona (TBD); Myrtle Beach Invitational (Conway, S.C.); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off; State Farm Champions Classic (Indianapolis) and Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.)

For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.

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ESPN Media Contact: Anna Negron at 860-766-2798 or [email protected]