Game shifts to Dec. 24

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 | 9:59 a.m.

Nobody will accuse Tina Kunzer-Murphy of being Scrooge anymore.

The executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl announced Tuesday that the 2003 game has been moved from Christmas Day to 4:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"Everything we've heard from the community the last two years was anything but (playing the game on) Christmas," Kunzer-Murphy said. "This will also give the people particpating in the game a chance to go home that night so they can spend Christmas with their families. And it also gives the local fan a chance to be home on Christmas and Christmas Eve night. We're willing to try anything to get this game to continue to grow."

The Las Vegas Bowl also announced that SEGA Sports has opted out of its sponsorship renewal, thus ending its relationship with the Las Vegas Bowl.

"SEGA Sports has been a great fit for us," Kunzer-Murphy said. "But they decided that they would no longer be producing a college football video game this year and therefore they felt it wasn't in their best interests to continue sponsoring the game as part of their marketing effort. It was never an issue that they weren't happy with what they were getting from sponsoring the game."

Kunzer-Murphy said she hopes to have a new title sponsor for the Las Vegas Bowl by the summer.

The game moved to Christmas Day two years ago where it received large TV ratings. Despite a lackluster UCLA-New Mexico matchup, last year's 2.89 rating was the fifth-highest rated bowl game televised by ESPN, according to Kunzer-Murphy.

The 4:30 p.m. kickoff means the game will be televised during prime time on the East Coast. It also won't go head-to-head against other bowl games or sporting events which should insure another good TV rating.

For the third straight year, the game will pit the No. 5 team from the Pac-10 Conference against the No. 2 team from the Mountain West Conference. It is the last year of the Pac-10's original three-year contract with Las Vegas Bowl.

"We're going to be working on extending that agreement," Kunzer-Murphy said. "All the reaction we've gotten from the Pac-10 is that they're glad to be playing in a bowl game in Las Vegas. And when we sent e-mails to the schools proposing a switch from Christmas Day to Christmas Eve, they were all very receptive."

The Mountain West Conference is bound to send its conference runner-up to the game until 2004. The MWC champ plays in the Liberty Bowl against the Conference USA winner.