Bowl game conference hosted by El Paso brings thousands to Borderland economy

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The annual bowl season meetings are concluding Wednesday evening in the borderland.  For the first time ever, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl hosted hundreds of people at the annual Bowl Season Meetings, which bring tens of thousands of dollars to the El Paso economy.

All the representatives from major bowls, including the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl, have spent the last three days here in El Paso for the annual convention

Representatives from all 43 bowl game were here in the 915, with events going on at the El Paso convention Center, and the Paso Del Norte Hotel.

One of the other bowl games in our region of the border southwest, the Arizona Bowl in Tucson, has hosted the New Mexico State football team, and is always trying to get borderland squads in their game.

The AZ Bowl executive director, Kym Adair, who attended the conference in El Paso, said, "What we loved about it being in Tucson, it was a four hour drive from all the folks to visit us, and come to Tucson and cheer on New Mexico State, I feel like somebody turned out the lights in Las Cruces."

Bernie Olivas, executive director of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, who's hosting the big convention, said, "It's pretty big. We've got Los Angeles, last year we were in Nashville, we were in Orlando, we've been to Houston, San Antonio, all over the place, but, for this to come to El Paso is huge, not only for the Sun Bowl, but the whole city."

The annual bowl season meetings, and the impact it has on the El Paso economy, is the subject of Sunday XTRA, hosted by Mark Ross. You can see ABC-7 Xtra on Sunday night at 10:35 p.m. on ABC-7.