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Holiday Bowl, Saudi Arabia officials met about moving game to Middle East, but it will remain in San Diego

pBCHVlJX_400x400by: Brett McMurphy10/18/25Brett_McMurphy
Syndication: HawkCentral
Iowa junior right tackle Tristan Wirfs holds the Holiday Bowl trophy after the Hawkeyes beat USC, 49-24, on Friday, Dec. 27, 2019, at the SDCCU Stadium in San Diego, Calif. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made Wirfs a first-round pick in 2020.

Holiday Bowl officials flew to Saudi Arabia this spring and met with Saudi officials about playing this year’s bowl game in the Middle East, sources told On3.

However, the ACC athletic directors discussed the possibility and said they did not have any interest. The Holiday Bowl pits a team from the ACC against a current/former Pac-12 member.

“The athletic directors had conversations about it and decided they didn’t want to do it,” a source said.

Added another source: “It was explored, there were a lot of pieces to the puzzle, but it ain’t happening.”

The 47th Holiday Bowl will be played Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. ET in San Diego. The bowl has been held annually since 1976 except in 2020. It was canceled that year after UCLA pulled out hours before kickoff, stating it couldn’t play because it didn’t have enough healthy players because of COVID-19.