Alamo Bowl

The Valero Alamo Bowl is a major American college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the 65,000-seat Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. It matches the fourth or fifth choice (not necessarily fourth or fifth place) teams from the Big Ten Conference and the Big 12 Conference.History
The game was previously known as the Builders Square Alamo Bowl (1993?1998), the Sylvania Alamo Bowl (1999?2001) and the MasterCard Alamo Bowl (2002?2005). The logo of the event has evolved to reflect the changes in sponsorship. On May 24, 2007 the Alamo Bowl announced a partnership with Valero Energy Corporation.During the 1996 Alamo Bowl, the Iowa Hawkeyes wore plain black helmets (removing their tigerhawk logo and gold stripe) in honor of linebacker Mark Mitchell's mother, who died in a car accident while travelling to San Antonio for the game.

The 2002 Alamo Bowl played between Colorado and Wisconsin is the only game to have gone into overtime, with the unranked Badgers defeating the No. 14 ranked Buffaloes after kicking a field goal to win 31-28.The 2005 Alamo Bowl ended on one of the most controversial plays in bowl game history,[1] a multi-lateral play in which almost the entire Nebraska team and coaching staff (as well as a few Michigan players, Michigan coaches and media) entered onto the field before the play was blown dead, bringing up memories of 1982's "The Play", 2000's "Music City Miracle", and 2002's "Bluegrass Miracle."The 2006 Alamo Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and the Iowa Hawkeyes was attended by 65,875, which set an Alamodome facility-record crowd for a sporting event.The Alamo Bowl has sold out five of its 14 games (1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2006).

Media coverage
The Alamo Bowl has produced eight of the top 20 most-watched bowl games in ESPN history. In 2006, the Alamo Bowl featured the Texas Longhorns and the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that earned a 6.0 rating, making it the most-watched college football game in ESPN history as more than 8.83 million viewers saw the telecast.[5]December means more than Christmas lights and jingle bells to San Antonio. Since the first game in 1993, the Alamo Bowl has created excitement and pageantry in San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl showcases two of the premier conferences in the country, the Big 12 and Big Ten. The Bowl has quickly become one of the most popular bowls in the country, producing seven of the top 20 most-watched bowl games in ESPN history. In 2005, the MasterCard Alamo Bowl featured Nebraska and Michigan in a game that earned a 5.41 rating making it the most-watched college football game in ESPN history as more than 7.8 million viewers saw the telecast. From NCAA record-breaking performances like Nebraska's 66 points in 2000 to thrilling finishes like Drew Brees leading Purdue in an 80 yard touchdown drive to overtake Kansas State in 1998 in the final seconds, the Alamo Bowl has something for everyone.

This year the 14th annual Alamo Bowl will be played on Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. CST. The game will televised internationally on ESPN HD as well as heard on ESPN Radio and 1200 WOAI-AM. The game between the Texas Longhorns and Iowa Hawkeyes is the third Alamo Bowl sellout in the last five years.

2005 Alamo Bowl Games Notes
The national television broadcast of the 2005 MasterCard Alamo Bowl earned a 5.41 rating making it the most-watched college football game in ESPN history. The rating translates into 4,875,554 households and 7.8 million viewers when considering ESPN's household base and a 1.6 viewers-per-viewing household factor. The mark exceeds ESPN's most-watched regular season college football game (a Florida State vs. Miami match-up with 4,486,000 households and 7.17 million viewers on October 8, 1994) and their most-watched bowl game (the 1998 Holiday Bowl between Nebraska and Arizona with 4,556,937 households and 7.29 million viewers).The game ended on one of the most dramatic finishes in the 2005 bowl season: Michigan lateraled the ball eight times and was stopped 13 yards short of the end zone while the Nebraska team stormed the field, reminiscent of the historic 1982 Cal-Stanford game. With the win, Nebraska remains undefeated in the Alamodome, with a 3-0 record in the Alamo Bowl and a 2-0 record in 1997 and 1999 Big 12 Championship games. The 2004 MasterCard Alamo Bowl drew a standing room only crowd of 65,265, the fourth sellout in bowl history and first sellout featuring two out-of-state teams. The bowl's 4.25 television rating was the third highest of the 21 ESPN televised bowl games and the fourth highest of the 134 games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 all of last season.The 2004 MasterCard Alamo Bowl also ranked as the #12 watched bowl game in ESPN history giving the Alamo Bowl six of their Top 15! Over the last 10 years, the MasterCard Alamo Bowl now has the second highest average television rating (4.46) and the third highest average attendance (59,943 or 92 percent of capacity) of the 21 ESPN bowl games.