The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been played at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Since 2022, it has been sponsored by Vrbo and officially known as the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. Previous sponsors include PlayStation (December 2016–2022), BattleFrog (January 2016), Vizio (December 2014), Tostitos (1996–January 2014), IBM (1993–1995) and Sunkist (1986–1990).
Since 1992, the Fiesta Bowl has been part of some organization of bowls designed to determine an undisputed national champion. In 1992, it was named as one of the Bowl Coalition games, but the bowl was never used to determine the champion. In 1995, the organizers of the Fiesta Bowl joined with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl to form the Bowl Alliance, with each bowl guaranteed to host a championship game as the coaches’ poll was contractually obligated to choose the winner of the Bowl Alliance championship game as its national champion. The Fiesta Bowl hosted the first of these games in January 1996.
After the 1997 season, the three Bowl Alliance bowls joined with the Rose Bowl to form the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), with the Fiesta Bowl guaranteed to host the national championship game every four years. As with the Bowl Alliance, the Fiesta Bowl was given first chance at hosting the BCS' championship in 1999; they also hosted the game in 2003. When the BCS reconstituted itself following the 2005 season, it began staging a separate national championship game, which rotated between BCS bowl sites.
Beginning with the 2014 season, Fiesta Bowl became a member of College Football Playoff, hosting a semifinal game every three years; all the teams playing in this bowl will be selected by the CFP Selection Committee in those years. In years that it serves as a semifinal, the winner of the Fiesta Bowl faces the winner of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game the following week. Unlike in the previous years, the National Championship Game is not awarded to the bowl organizations in the CFP; instead, the selection process is similar to the one used to determine a host for the Super Bowl.
The Fiesta Bowl has donated over $12 million to charity. In 2020, it donated $1 million in emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
Origins
The Fiesta Bowl was born from the Western Athletic Conference's frustrated attempts to obtain bowl invitations for its champions. In 1968 and 1969 respectively, champions Wyoming and Arizona State failed to secure any bowl selection. The next year, undefeated Arizona State was bypassed by the major bowls and had to settle for an appearance in the less prestigious Peach Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl therefore initially provided an automatic berth for the WAC champion.
1970s
In its first decade of existence, the Fiesta Bowl was played in the last week of December (including the afternoon of Christmas Day from 1976 to 1979). The 1971 inaugural game featured another top-ten Arizona State squad against top-twenty opponent Florida State. The 1974 game featured WAC champ BYU and their new coach, future Hall of Fame member LaVell Edwards in their first ever bowl game vs. Oklahoma State. BYU was in control until BYU's first All-American quarterback Gary Sheide went down with a leg injury and eventually lost 16–6. By 1975, the game was able to attract Big Eight co-champion Nebraska to play undefeated Arizona State in a matchup of top-five teams. In 1977, the game was again able to attract a top-five opponent in Penn State, despite WAC champion #16 BYU refusing to play in the bowl due to its being held on Sunday.
In 1978, Arizona and Arizona State both joined the Pac-10 Conference and the Fiesta Bowl's tie-in with the WAC ended as its champ went to the newly inaugurated Holiday Bowl. From then until the advent of the Bowl Coalition in 1992, Fiesta Bowl matchups typically featured runners-up of major conferences and/or major independents.