The matchup between Minnesota and New Mexico marked the start of a lucrative holiday sports stretch fueled by the Fiesta Sports Foundation.<\/p>\n
PHOENIX \u2014 Downtown Phoenix was awash in school colors and holiday energy as college football fans from Minnesota and New Mexico poured into the city for the Rate Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the opening act for the Valley’s busiest \u2014 and lucrative \u2014 holiday sports season.<\/p>\n
Outside Chase Field, fans gathered early for the pre-game Fan Fest, kicking off a string of major events powered by the Fiesta Sports Foundation that includes an iconic parade and the Fiesta Bowl.<\/p>\n
Bands played, fans shook hands, and the excitement built hours before kickoff, setting the tone for an afternoon that went far beyond the final score.<\/p>\n
The matchup featured the Minnesota Golden Gophers against the New Mexico Lobos, but regardless of who won on the field, the event was a clear victory for the local community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fiesta Sports Foundation Executive Director & CEO Erik Moses said the economic impact is massive.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach year, we are responsible, between the two bowl games and our parade, for about $200 million in economic impact for the state of Arizona,\u201d Moses said. \u201cWe\u2019re really proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday also doubled as an unofficial Chamber of Commerce Day, especially for fans escaping colder climates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the Alger family from Minnesota, the trip was both a show of loyalty and a chance to trade winter coats for sunshine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been about supporting the Gophers,\u201d said Larry Alger. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a great opportunity to come someplace warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
His son Isaac agreed, saying the journey was an easy decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Gopher spirit is unlike anything else,” Isaac Alger said. “Traveling halfway across the country to see them is a no-brainer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sentiment drew laughs when it was suggested that the trip was even better with mom and dad footing the bill.<\/p>\n
New Mexico fans brought their own brand of passion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Louis Trujillo, who made the shorter trip from neighboring New Mexico, said the moment felt hard-earned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is amazing,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cThis is everything the Lobos have fought for. We\u2019ve been through a lot \u2014 a lot of bad years \u2014 so coming to a bowl game like the Rate Bowl is an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Rate Bowl wrapped up, the Fiesta Sports Foundation was already looking ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fiesta Bowl Parade is set to return to Central Avenue on Jan. 3, continuing a holiday tradition that has spanned more than 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just days later, on Jan. 8, Glendale will host a College Football Playoff semifinal at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl \u2014 with the winner advancing to compete for a national championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The matchup between Minnesota and New Mexico marked the start of a lucrative holiday sports stretch fueled by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":473716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-473715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115788287448962092","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}