Holiday Bowl brings back iconic San Diego fireworks show for second year
SAN DIEGO — An iconic fireworks show is returning to Petco Park this holiday season for the San Diego’s signature postseason college football event.
The KGB Sky Show — an elaborate display synchronized to music on the local iHeartRadio station — will once again light up the sky as a post-game celebration for the annual Holiday Bowl, which is set to take place on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
It will mark the second straight year that the KGB Sky Show will follow San Diego’s bowl game that matches teams from the Pac-12 and ACC.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are that the Holiday Bowl will be home to the KGB Sky Show again this year,” said Sports San Diego’s current president, Dennis DuBard. “Thanks to this partnership and our good friends at iHeart, the fan experience at (the Holiday Bowl) will be among the very best in the country. Our fans are in for quite a night!”
The KGB Sky Show was first held in 1976. In 2004, however, the spectacle became intertwined with college football, annually following a San Diego State University football game until 2019.
The event was not held for two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of SDCCU Stadium. Its future remained uncertain as Snapdragon Stadium officials said the show literally could not fit the new facility, given its massive parking lots.
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That is until Sports San Diego, the nonprofit that produces the Holiday Bowl, and iHeart Media officials joined forces to revive the KGB Sky Show, incorporating the fireworks spectacular into the post-season game last year when it moved into its new home at Petco Park.
“101.5 KGB and the entire iHeartRadio group is excited to partner again with the Holiday Bowl. The football match up followed by KGB Sky Show is a San Diego tradition,” Noreen Ippolito, San Diego market president of the iHeartMedia Markets Group, said in a release. “This year’s fireworks show … will create the best game day experience for those living (in) and visiting San Diego. “
The Holiday is one of four bowl games that take place on Dec. 27, including the Military Bowl, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and TaxAct Texas Bowl. Kick-off for the game will take place shortly after 5 p.m. in Petco Park.
Tickets for the game and Sky Show are set to go on general sale Thursday, Sept. 14. Fans can get more information about how to snag tickets for the matchup when the go on sale by signing up to the Holiday Bowl email list here.
In addition to the annual game and fireworks display, exciting holiday events will take over downtown San Diego leading up to the big event, including the Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade, Snapdragon Bowl Bash, Tailgate Party and 5K Walk/Run. More information about those events can be found on the Holiday Bowl San Diego website.
This year’s Holiday Bowl will mark the 44th year the event has been held, which was previously played in Mission Valley until moving to downtown.
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