Virginia Tech-UCLA announced for 80th annual Hyundai Sun Bowl

It’s an announcement a year in the making and now it’s official.

The two teams chosen to play at this years 80th annual Hyundai Sun Bowl areVirginia Tech andUCLA. Both teams combined only have 7 losses in the season, which should make for an exiting game New Year’s Eve.

The news came inSunday evening and it wasnews the Sun Bowl association had been waiting to announce.

President of the association Walker Crowson said the two teams have never played one another.

“This is a great matchup for El Paso, this is one of the matchups we’ve been anticipating for a long time,” said Crowson.

Bernie Olivas, executive director of the Sun Bowl association, toldABC-7 the two teams have the potential of bringing a huge fan base to El Paso.

“I know that Virginia Tech has a reputation for traveling very well,I guess they want to get out of the cold weather they have a very strong fan base.UCLA has alumni all over the country so if they don’t come fromLA there’s a lot of graduates in Dallas in Phoenix, in Denver, in San Antonio and those are the people are we want to attract to El Paso,” said Olivas.

Olivaswent on to saythe more fanswho come in from out of town the better for the city.

“The people that come to visit will be spending the money and that’s one of the reasons we have this game and hopefully with the two schools likeUCLA and Virginia Tech who have a reputation of following their football teams. We’ll get a lot of business for the city and they’ll spend their money and leave it here,” said Olivas.

This would be the fourth timeUCLA played at Sun Bowl. The last time Virginia Tech played the Sun Bowl was in 1947.