If you’re looking for a straight answer on where is the Holiday Bowl played, you might be surprised to find that the answer has changed more times in the last few years than in the previous four decades combined. For the longest time, it was easy. You went to Mission Valley, you sat in a massive concrete bowl that smelled vaguely of stale beer and nostalgia, and you watched a high-scoring shootout. Simple.
But things got weird.
The Holiday Bowl isn't just a game; it's a San Diego institution that nearly died when its longtime home was leveled by bulldozers. Since then, the "America's Finest City" bowl game has been playing a game of musical chairs. If you’re planning a trip or just trying to win a bar bet, you need to know that the game is currently hosted at Petco Park, the downtown home of the San Diego Padres. It’s a baseball stadium. Yes, they play football on a diamond now, and honestly, it’s one of the coolest visual spectacles in college sports.
The Long Reign of Jack Murphy and Qualcomm
For forty years, from its inception in 1978 until 2019, the Holiday Bowl lived at the site formerly known as San Diego Stadium. You might know it as Jack Murphy Stadium or Qualcomm Stadium. It was a massive, multipurpose "cookie-cutter" stadium that hosted everything from the Chargers to the Padres to the 1998 Super Bowl. It wasn't fancy. By the mid-2010s, it was falling apart. The plumbing was questionable, and the concrete was crumbling. Yet, it had a soul.
The Holiday Bowl built its reputation there on "the miracle." Think back to the 1980 "Miracle Bowl" where BYU staged a comeback for the ages against SMU. That happened in Mission Valley. That stadium was the bedrock of the bowl’s identity. When the Chargers packed up for Los Angeles in 2017, the writing was on the wall for the old girl. The stadium was eventually demolished to make way for the new Snapdragon Stadium and the SDSU Mission Valley campus.
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The Move to the Gaslamp: Why Petco Park?
When Qualcomm Stadium (then called SDCCU Stadium) was slated for demolition, the Holiday Bowl was homeless. There was a problem, though. The new Snapdragon Stadium wasn't finished yet, and even when it was, it was designed primarily for San Diego State football. It’s a beautiful, modern venue, but it has a smaller capacity than what the Holiday Bowl committee typically looks for in a "major" bowl game.
Enter Petco Park.
Moving a football game into a baseball stadium is a logistical nightmare. You have to remove mounds, lay sod over dirt, and cram a 100-yard field into an area designed for outfielders. But the Holiday Bowl officials realized that being in the heart of downtown—literally steps away from the Gaslamp Quarter—was a massive upgrade for the fan experience. Instead of tailgating in a massive asphalt parking lot in the suburbs, fans are now spilling out of bars and into the stadium.
Since 2022, Petco Park has been the answer to where is the Holiday Bowl played. The field runs from the third-base line toward right field. It looks tight. It looks different. But the backdrop of the San Diego skyline is unbeatable.
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Why not Snapdragon Stadium?
You might wonder why they don't just use the new, shiny football-specific stadium up the road. It basically comes down to seating and revenue. Snapdragon Stadium seats about 35,000. For a local SDSU game, that's perfect. For a high-profile matchup between the ACC and the Pac-12 (or whatever the conference realignment leaves us with in 2026), the Holiday Bowl often wants a bigger gate. Petco Park can hold over 40,000 for football. Plus, the Padres have a financial stake in making the venue a year-round destination.
The COVID Chaos and the Canceled Games
We can't talk about where the game is played without mentioning the years it wasn't played anywhere. In 2020, the game was canceled because of the pandemic. In 2021, it was supposed to be the grand debut at Petco Park. UCLA was set to play NC State.
The fans were in the stands. The bands were ready. Then, just five hours before kickoff, UCLA had to pull out due to COVID-19 issues within the program. It was a disaster. NC State coach Dave Doeren was rightfully frustrated, and the bowl had to wait another year to actually see a kickoff in the baseball stadium.
When Oregon played North Carolina in 2022, it finally happened. Bo Nix led a last-second comeback that proved the Holiday Bowl’s "wild game" DNA survived the move to downtown.
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What it's Like Attending at Petco Park
If you’re heading to the game, forget everything you know about traditional football stadiums. The sightlines are skewed. If you're sitting in the "Western Metal Supply Co." building in left field, you're literally watching football from a historic warehouse. It's awesome.
The food is also miles ahead of old-school stadium fare. We're talking Hodad’s burgers, Puesto tacos, and a craft beer selection that reflects San Diego’s status as a brewing capital. You aren't just going for the game; you're going for the city.
- The Weather: It’s San Diego in December. Usually 65 degrees and sunny.
- The Parade: The Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade happens downtown before the game. It’s the largest balloon parade in the country.
- The Walkability: If you stay in a downtown hotel, you don't need a car. You walk to the game, you walk to the bars, you walk to the waterfront.
Real Talk: The Future of the Venue
Is Petco Park the forever home? Honestly, maybe not. Sports is a business of shifting contracts. There is always a possibility that as Snapdragon Stadium matures or expands, the game could move back to Mission Valley. But for now, the partnership with the San Diego Padres is strong. The bowl signed a multi-year deal to stay at the ballpark, and as long as the "baseball stadium football" novelty keeps drawing crowds, they’ll likely stay put.
The Holiday Bowl has always been the "big" bowl game that isn't quite a New Year's Six game. It's the one that teams actually want to go to because, well, it's San Diego in the winter. Whether it's played on a converted baseball field or a dedicated gridiron, the location is the draw.
Actionable Tips for Fans
If you are planning to attend the next Holiday Bowl, keep these logistical realities in mind. Because the field is shoehorned into a baseball park, the seating is asymmetric.
- Pick your seats wisely: Seats along the first-base line are generally better for seeing the whole field. Seats in the outfield might be far away from the action depending on which end zone the teams are attacking.
- Public Transit: Take the Trolley. The Blue, Orange, and Green lines all converge near Petco Park. Parking downtown is a nightmare and will cost you an arm and a leg.
- Check the Conference Tie-ins: The game currently features teams from the ACC and the remnants of the Pac-12/Big Ten agreements. Check the latest standings in November to see who is trending toward a San Diego trip.
- The 101st Airborne: Usually, there’s a parachute jump into the stadium before kickoff. Don’t be late; it’s one of the best pre-game traditions in the bowl circuit.
The Holiday Bowl has survived stadium demolitions, global pandemics, and last-minute cancellations. It’s a resilient piece of Southern California sports culture. Now that you know where is the Holiday Bowl played, you can stop worrying about the map and start worrying about the spread. It’s almost always a high-scoring game. That’s just the San Diego way.