San Diego’s largest college football game is back in Mission Valley after only two years in Downtown. The DirecTV Holiday Bowl will be held at Snapdragon Stadium between Syracuse and Washington State on Friday, Dec. 27. The San Diego State University (SDSU) arena was built explicitly for hosting college football, so having the region’s biggest annual game there is significant.

“We are excited for Snapdragon Stadium to become the new home of the Holiday Bowl. The Holiday Bowl has been a tradition in San Diego for over 40 years, and we look forward to providing the San Diego community another opportunity to visit San Diego State’s campus and spectacular home stadium,” said SDSU Director of Athletics John David Wicker.

For the City of San Diego, which owns Petco Park, the move is a loss. The Padres estimated the City of San Diego would receive $1 million in revenue in the first five years the game was hosted in Petco Park. That five-year contract was broken as the game moved back to Mission Valley, where it was held most of its 45-year history.

In 2021, the City Council voted to change its operating contract with the Padres to allow football games in the park. The city also paid $650,000 towards renovating the field to accommodate football games and expand its capacity, according to Axios. In exchange, the city received 30% of Holiday Bowl proceeds. However, the deal was not as lucrative as hoped as that very year the Holiday Bowl was canceled last minute when UCLA withdrew due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Petco Park did host the Holiday Bowl in 2022 and 2023. Still, if the estimate held, the city lost money while changing Petco Park into a multi-use field unless other events, like the rodeo, bring in additional funds.

At the time of the vote in 2021, proponents argued it was a way to keep the Holiday Bowl in San Diego after the city sold Qualcomm Stadium to SDSU and it was demolished. With Snapdragon Stadium now in use, the game is back to its old site with a new operator. Snapdragon Stadium has had its own struggles, including criticism of the field conditions back in October during the women’s soccer finals. Fans were concerned players would be injured in a field riddled with holes, sand and divots. With a new Men’s League Soccer team being added to the mix of  SDSU football, Wave soccer, and Legion Rugby, the field will see more use than ever next year.

Despite the move back to Mission Valley, Downtown is still getting ready to celebrate the Holiday Bowl. The fourth annual Holiday Bowl Bash is a free, family event in the Gaslamp Quarter where the Syracuse and Washington State University bands battle each other. The street festival includes a photo booth where visitors can pose with the official Holiday Bowl trophy the day before one of the teams takes it home. This newer event kicks off the weekend at Fifth and Market on Thursday, Dec. 26 from 5-7 p.m.

The next morning, the annual 5k run/walk takes place ahead of the Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade presented by Kaiser Permanente from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This tradition is now the biggest balloon parade in the country, although spectators will also see a flock of drill teams, marching bands and floats. Both of these events take place along Harbor Drive – one of the reasons it once made sense to move the game to Downtown near the other festivities. The parade is free. Then, fans are invited to a tailgate party at Venue 808, an event space a block away from Petco Park. The only other part of the celebration that did migrate to Mission Valley is the KGB Sky Show, where fireworks will coordinate with music on KGB’s radio stations after the game. This is the third year the two events have been held together.

Tickets for the game start at $66. Event details at holidaybowl.com.

Photo: The first game at Snapdragon Stadium in 2022. (Photo by Derrick Tuskan, SDSU Athletics)