College football bowl games continue to fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Las Vegas Bowl was the latest to drop out for this year, as ESPN Events announced its cancellation Wednesday. The December game was slated to be between a Pac-12 team and an SEC team at Allegiant Stadium, the new home of the Las Vegas Raiders. Nevada recently declared a statewide pause that reduced public and private gathering sizes due to the coronavirus.
"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 release on the Las Vegas Bowl website. "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."
According to ESPN, there have now been 10 bowl games dropped for this season, with the Las Vegas Bowl joining the Bahamas, Celebration, Fenway, Hawaii, Holiday, Motor City, Pinstripe, Redbox and Sun bowls.
“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 said Larry Scott said. “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.”
“We are disappointed the Las Vegas Bowl has been cancelled for the 2020 football season and will miss the opportunity for SEC student-athletes to experience an exciting new venue,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “We have no doubt the Las Vegas Bowl will be a great part of the future SEC bowl lineup and look forward to our partnership in the years ahead.”
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