The Las Vegas Bowl became the latest postseason bowl game to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN Events announced Wednesday.
The Las Vegas Bowl, which was scheduled to match a Pac-12 team against an SEC opponent, was slated to be played for the first time at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
“Unfortunately we will have to wait another year to present the Las Vegas Bowl in its new home,” John Saccenti, the game’s executive director, said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision but the right one considering that our game was founded nearly three decades ago to help drive tourism to the Entertainment Capital of the World during the month of December. We are looking forward to making our bowl week bigger and better than ever in 2021.”
The Las Vegas Bowl is the 10th bowl game canceled because of the pandemic; the Bahamas, Celebration, Fenway, Hawaii, Holiday, Motor City, Pinstripe, Redbox and Sun bowls are the others.
The Pac-12 has now lost four bowl games with which it had tie-ins; the Holiday, Redbox and Sun are the others.
“The Pac-12 is disappointed for our teams and fans that the Las Vegas Bowl has been forced to cancel this year’s game,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “We look forward to next year’s game, which promises to be a fantastic national stage in one of the world’s best football stadiums, to showcase Pac-12 football.”