At 92 years old, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is healthy and adapting
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From its debut in 1935 when the El Paso All-Stars beat Ranger High School, to this year when Arizona State takes on Duke, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl has been in continual transition without losing the pageantry or the history that has defined the nation’s second-oldest bowl.
This year’s game, the 91st playing of the 92-year-old event, will mark the end of at least one era, and as has always happened, the handoff to a new one.
Key Sun Bowl contracts are up
Coming up is a contract year on two fronts: When the Sun Bowl hopes to renew its affiliation with Kellogg’s and Tony the Tiger, and when it will look for a new conference to put up against (probably, but not for sure) the ACC.
Could the Sun Bowl evolve into a College Football Playoff game? That’s not completely out of the picture and at this point, not many specifics about the Sun Bowl’s future are known other than at this time next year, the bowl seems certain to be the healthiest of 93 year olds in the happiest of 58-year marriages to its broadcast partner CBS.
Who will be in next year’s Sun Bowl? That announcement is 49 weeks away and much will happen between now and then.
Could the Sun Bowl be a playoff game?
The first domino to fall is completely out of the Sun Bowl’s hands. The NCAA has yet to finalize plans for its playoffs that will follow the 2026 season, and until a decision is made by Jan. 23, four days after this year’s College Football Playoff championship game, all the bowls are on hold.
If the choice is to stay with 12, not much changes on that front. If the NCAA goes to 14, small changes could come. If it goes to 16 or 24, then all sorts of things could happen.
If it goes to 24, would the Sun Bowl be one of eight mid-December first-round games? Maybe.
“As far as the Sun Bowl is concerned, we’ve been around 92 years, I would think that we are pretty safe as far as our future,” executive director Bernie Olivas said. “Our reputation and the fact that we’ve been around 92 years will help us if they decide to use bowls for the playoff system.
“I don’t know if that’s what they are thinking or not. … I think we are in that picture if they do decide to use the bowls as a playoff venue.”
What conferences will come to the Sun Bowl?
If there aren’t radical changes to the current 12-team format, the Sun Bowl will begin talks with several parties to determine its conference affiliations going forward.
The Sun Bowl has been paired with the Pac-12 since these affiliations became formal in 1995, then picked up the ACC as the Pac-12’s opponent in 2010. The contracts with those conferences are expiring, as conference affiliation contracts are expiring for every bowl.
The Pac-12 quit being the Pac-12 as it had always been known in last year’s realignment, and for 2024 and ’25 they’ve been referred to as “Pac-12 Legacy.” Every bowl under contract with the Pac-12 picks a team that was in the league in 2023. Those contracts are now expiring and the Pac-12 is set to look much different as a seven-team football conference in 2026.
Since 1968, when it teamed up with CBS, the Sun Bowl has almost always pitted two power-conference teams against each other; that’s been part of the game’s DNA. The Sun Bowl will talk with the new-look Pac-12, but whether it is considered a power conference seems doubtful.
Olivas said the SEC is probably off the table, which would mean the conferences in play for another power-conference matchup would be the ACC (with Notre Dame at least at the moment part of that pool), the Big 10 and Big 12.
The Sun Bowl’s priority would be to renew its partnership with the ACC, which is becoming a fairly long-standing one.
“As far as I know, the ACC would like us back and they’ve been very good to be associated with,” Olivas said. “They have a good menu of teams.”
Indeed. While the expansion of the playoffs from four to 12 teams has removed eight from the bowl pool, the expansion of the ACC from 12 to 17 teams has given the Sun Bowl more options. The Sun Bowl is still a destination for an eight-win, occasionally ranked ACC team. This year, Duke became the first power-conference champion in the Sun Bowl.
If the Sun Bowl re-ups with the ACC, it would then talk with the ACC and CBS to see their preferences for an opponent conference.
Big 10 or Big 12?
The Big 10 would bring history. From 1995-2005, the Big 10 and Sun Bowl were partners. The Big 12 then sent Missouri and Oklahoma here in ’06 and ’09 before the current contract with the ACC.
The Big 12 would bring the chance of Texas teams, such as Texas Tech (surely a Sun Bowl dream team because of its location), TCU or Baylor, or nearby Arizona and Arizona State.
“We would talk to CBS and the ACC as to who they would like their opponent to be,” Olivas said. “I’m sure everybody would like power conference versus power conference, which we have. I’m sure CBS would like that too, but I don’t know if the Pac 12 will be considered a power conference.”
As for a timeline on all this, Olivas joked, “Before New Year’s Eve next year.” Conference affiliation contracts have been announced in late summer in the past.
Will Tony the Tiger be back?
Olivas expects that sponsorship will follow that. In 1986, the Sun Bowl became the first bowl with a title sponsor when it was renamed the John Hancock Sun Bowl, and in August 2019, it announced its rebranding as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. That’s the 10th name the Sun Bowl has had under seven different title sponsors.
The contract with Kellogg’s is now expiring, though Kellogg’s does have an option to renew. The Sun Bowl hopes they do.
“I would imagine Kellogg’s wants to know where we’re going to be as well,” Olivas said, referring to the conference affiliations. “So, I think getting a conference assigned first will probably be before the title sponsor.
“Obviously, they’re looking for eyeballs as well. The sponsor wants to make sure that we’re in conferences that will turn TVs.”
As for his preference on this front, Olivas said, “Kellogg’s has been an incredible sponsor.”
If Kellogg’s passes, the Sun Bowl will go shopping for another sponsor.
What isn’t going to change for the foreseeable future is the passion the game arouses in El Paso. Ticket sales for this year’s game have been humming and a crowd of at least 44,000 in the 46,000-seat Sun Bowl is expected. In an era when a glut of bowls have led to declining attendance, the Sun Bowl has avoided that trend.
“El Paso supports their bowl better than any other city supports their bowl,” Olivas said, which is the biggest reason why the game is turning 92 looking as strong as it ever has.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: What’s next for the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl? Changes are coming
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