San Diego Bowl Operator Receives 28% Increase In Funding

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Operator Allocated 28% Increase In Funding

The San Diego Bowl Association (SDBA), the operator of the 31-year-old Pacific Life Holiday Bowl and the four-year-old San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, "has been allocated a 28[%] increase in funding" from San Diego's Tourism Marketing District (TMD), according to Brent Schrotenboer of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The increase gives the SDBA $500,000 for FY '10, "up from $391,136 it received each year" since '05. The TMD funds "go to events and businesses that promote tourism and help fill hotel rooms in San Diego." San Diego Tourism Promotion Corporation Exec Dir Lorin Stewart said the reason the SDBA received an increase was that "in years before, they had only applied for funding for the Holiday Bowl itself." Stewart: "This year they asked for funding for Holiday and Poinsettia bowls. Their return on investment is very good." Schrotenboer noted the SDBA also "receives about $45,000 from San Diego County and $155,000 each year from the port district." SDBA Exec Dir Bruce Binkowski said that the funding "helps meet the guaranteed payouts to participating teams" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/22).

ON THE TUBE: ESPN will televise the '09 St. Petersburg Bowl, which will be played Saturday, December 19 at 8:00pm ET at Tropicana Field. The game, entering its second year, will feature a team from the Big East and a team from Conference USA (ESPN).