NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl Kicks Off In Tucson, Featuring Teams From Sun Belt, Mtn. West Conferences

TUCSON, AZ (May 26, 2016) — NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl is pleased to announce that this year’s game featuring teams from the Sun Belt Conference and Mountain West Conference  will be played on Friday, December 30, 2016 at University of Arizona Stadium in Tucson, AZ. The game time will be announced in early June. Both the Mountain West and Sun Belt Conference have committed to sending teams to the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl for the 2016-2019 seasons.

 

Additionally, Campus Insiders, the premier online destination and leading content source for college sports fans, has agreed to a multi-year media partnership for the streaming of the game and enhanced digital game experience on CampusInsiders.com as well as on its many mobile and streaming media partner platforms. Campus Insiders is also finalizing an agreement with a national linear broadcast partner to televise the game.

 

The 2015 inaugural NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl was owned and operated by the Arizona Sports & Entertainment Commission (ASEC) which successfully organized and executed an incredible bowl experience in a very short time period. To ensure the long-term sustainability of the Bowl in Tucson, in early 2016, ASEC recommended that the bowl ownership be transitioned to a local Tucson organization, owned and managed by local community leaders. As a result, TD4Tucson was established as a 501c3 to retain the licensing of the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl. Due to their integral involvement in providing first class Bowl experience, ASEC has been retained to provide on-going consultation and direct game day operations. Ali Farhang, Chairperson of TD4Tucson, stated, “I am so grateful for the leadership and fortitude that ASEC demonstrated by bringing a Bowl game to Tucson. Their experience and guidance was instrumental to executing a 5-star event under extremely challenging circumstances. I am pleased that the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl and our local community will continue to be the benefactor of their knowledge and leadership. The transition of ownership to TD4Tucson and continued partnership with ASEC is a tremendous win for Southern Arizona.”

 

Recap of the 2015 NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl

The NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl was sanctioned in March 2015 as the 41st NCAA college football game and the third bowl game staged in Arizona. The inaugural game kicked off on December 29, 2015. The bowl game featured two teams from the Mountain West – Colorado State and Nevada. The final score was 28-23 in one of the most hotly contested and exciting games in the bowl season. The NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl had the second highest attendance of any inaugural bowl in history. Grammy Award band Los Lobos performed at halftime.

 

The University of Arizona Eller College of Management estimated the economic impact of the bowl game in 2015 was approximately $16.8 million, generated primarily by tourism and recreational activities, team expenditures and the creation of part-time jobs. Game organizers projected the event produced over 2,000 room bookings during game week, traditionally a slow time for Tucson hotels.

 

About the NOVA® Home Loans Renewal

NOVA Home Loans has returned for the second year as the Title Sponsor. The NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl is dedicated to promoting community engagement and supporting local charities which aligns with the corporate values of NOVA® Home Loans. Jon Volpe, CEO of NOVA® Home Loans noted, “We are truly delighted to be the title sponsor of the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl for another year. Last year’s Bowl showed us that the Tucson community enthusiastically supports the hosting of an NCAA Bowl Game in Tucson. The economic and charitable impact of the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl can have a profound effect on Southern Arizona for years to come. It is NOVA’s key mission to give back to the communities that have given so much to us. I am thrilled that through our sponsorship of the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl, we will be able to promote local businesses, boost local charities and share the game of football with kids across Southern Arizona.”

 

About Campus Insiders

Campus Insiders, a Silver Chalice Network, is the premier online destination and leading content source for college sports fans. Campus Insiders features high-quality content, including live studio shows, video-on-demand (VOD), and nearly 3,000 live games. “As the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl game media partner, we are committed to the vision shared by the Mountain West and the Sun Belt conferences to create a unique way to enjoy college football wherever fans are watching,” said Crowley Sullivan, Executive Vice President of Campus Insiders. “After experiencing the excitement surrounding the inaugural game and what it meant to the people of Tucson, we are honored to be a part of the growth of this game over the next few years.” Campus Insiders is available: On the go: Facebook, go90TM, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, On your TV: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox.

 

About NOVA Home Loans

NOVA® Home Loans has served the needs of homeowners and homebuyers since 1980. NOVA has branches throughout Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California and was recently named among the Top 50 mortgage lenders in the country. NOVA® is also licensed to originate loans in Alaska, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. For more information, visit www.novahomeloans.com.

 

About the Mountain West

From its inception in 1999, the Mountain West has been committed to excellence in intercollegiate athletics, while promoting the academic missions of its member institutions. Progressive in its approach, the Mountain West continues to cultivate opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the highest level, while fostering academic achievement and sportsmanship. Now in its 17th year, the MW has been assertive in its involvement with the NCAA governance structure and has taken a leadership role in the overall administration of intercollegiate athletics. The Mountain West membership is comprised of 11 all-sport members: the United States Air Force Academy, Boise State University, Colorado State University, Fresno State, University of Nevada, University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, San José State University, UNLV, Utah State University and University of Wyoming. In addition, the University of Hawai‘i and Colorado College participate in the Mountain West as single-sport members in football and women’s soccer, respectively. For more information on the Mountain West, visit www.TheMW.com .

 

About the Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference’s “Together We Rise” motto isn’t just hyperbole. It’s proven fact on many different levels, not the least being its place in the hierarchy of collegiate athletics. As the league celebrates four decades since its founding in 1976, the Sun Belt occupies a “seat at the table” as a permanent part of the NCAA’s 24-member Board of Directors. That alone insures that the conference has a voice in determining the future as college sports continues to change and evolve. Opportunities for Sun Belt student-athletes to succeed both on and off the field have never been greater, and the Sun Belt is well positioned in the areas of scholarships, student-athlete welfare and academic success. During the 2014-15 academic year alone, Sun Belt member institutions awarded nearly $50 million in scholarship funds to over 3,084 student-athletes while also contributing over $2 million from the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) to over 1,779 student-athletes. The Sun Belt Conference’s membership consists of 11 football members – Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Idaho, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe, New Mexico State, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy. Little Rock and UT Arlington compete in all-sports as non-football members while Idaho and New Mexico State are football only members. Coastal Carolina will join the Sun Belt Conference in all sports but football in 2016. The CCU football program will begin Sun Belt play in 2018. For more information on the Sun Belt Conference, visit www.sunbeltsports.org.

 

About the Arizona Sports & Entertainment Commission

The Arizona Sports & Entertainment Commission (ASEC) is a non-profit organization created in 1988. The Commission collaborates with hundreds of partners to help fulfill the mission of bringing national and international sporting events to the state; assisting in the promotion of existing events and Arizona sports teams; providing volunteer recruitment and organization for large-scale sporting events; and developing youth sports programs. In 1999, it assumed oversight of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2012, the Grand Canyon State Games. ASEC was the founding organization and owner of the 2015 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. For more information about the Commission call (480) 517-9700 or visit

www.azsportsent.com.

 

For more information about the NOVA® Home Loans Arizona Bowl visit: www.NOVAArizonaBowl.com.

 

The Sun Belt Conference also has bowl ties with the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, GoDaddy.com Bowl, Raycom Media Camellia Bowl and the AutoNation Cure bowl.

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