Las Vegas Bowl 2026: New Year's Eve at Allegiant Stadium

The Las Vegas Bowl is timed like a Vegas plan. It kicks off at midday on New Year's Eve, inside a stadium with a roof, so the final whistle leaves the biggest night in Las Vegas still ahead of you. That's the case in one sentence. The rest is detail.

Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium: why the room matters

The Las Vegas Bowl has been played since 1992, and it moved into Allegiant Stadium in 2021. The building changes the day. Its translucent roof keeps a December afternoon at room temperature, the 85-foot Al Davis Memorial Torch burns at one end of the field, and 38,879 people turned out for last year's New Year's Eve edition. Two traveling fan bases, one roof and a stadium full of fight songs, all before the Strip's biggest night has even started. The bowl has its own footnote in the sport's history, too: the 1995 game was the first overtime game ever played in Division I-A college football.

Las Vegas Bowl college football game at Allegiant Stadium

Where: Allegiant Stadium, 3333 Al Davis Way, across Interstate 15 from Mandalay Bay. Date: Thursday, December 31, 2026. Teams: named in early December. Best for: college football fans spending New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.

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Bowl week around the game

The game isn't the only thing on the schedule. Bowl week brings the two teams to town days early, with a pep rally and a fan fest built around them. The colors arrive early. The stadium itself is worth a look on any other day of the trip; our Allegiant Stadium tour guide covers what the tour shows you on a non-game day.

Who should book now, and who should wait

Made for the traveler who's in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve anyway and wants a daytime plan with a crowd in it. Booking before the pairing is announced means buying the game, not the teams. Most New Year's visitors won't mind. If one school is the reason you're going, the early-December announcement is the date that matters.

After the final whistle

The Strip closes to cars on New Year's Eve evening for the fireworks, so the walk back from the stadium becomes the start of the night. Timing does the work. Our guide to the hotels inside the New Year's Eve Strip closure shows which rooms put you inside it, and the New Year's Eve in Las Vegas page lists everything else on that night.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Las Vegas Bowl 2026?

The 2026 Las Vegas Bowl is on Thursday, December 31, 2026, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with a midday kickoff and a national broadcast on ESPN. It's the second year in a row the game has been played on New Year's Eve.

Who is playing in the Las Vegas Bowl?

The 2026 matchup hasn't been announced yet. Bowl pairings are set in early December, after the regular season and the conference championship games. Recent editions give a sense of the level: Utah beat Nebraska 44-22 on December 31, 2025, and USC edged Texas A&M 35-31 in 2024.

Is the Las Vegas Bowl worth attending?

Yes, especially for anyone already in town for New Year's Eve. The game is indoors, it finishes in the afternoon, and bowl crowds are made of two fan bases that traveled to be there, which makes for a loud building. For a fan of either school, the night that follows is the bonus no other bowl offers.

How do you get to Allegiant Stadium from the Strip?

Allegiant Stadium sits just west of Interstate 15 at Russell Road and Hacienda Avenue, opposite Mandalay Bay at the south end of the Strip. Guests at Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur are close enough to walk over the freeway; from the center of the Strip, rideshare is the usual way in.

Where did the Las Vegas Bowl start?

The game grew out of the California Raisin Bowl, which was played in Fresno from 1981 to 1991. It became the Las Vegas Bowl in 1992 and spent nearly three decades at Sam Boyd Stadium before the move to Allegiant Stadium.