The First New Year's Eve Bowl Game
There may have been an earlier college football bowl game on New Year's Eve, but the earliest I found came in 1968, when Houston hosted the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, raising issues we continue to witness in college football today.
The bowl began life in 1959 as the Bluebonnet Bowl and featured a team from Texas or Tulsa. It typically drew 50,000+ fans into Rice Stadium, especially when the Longhorns were one of the invitees. Played during the week before Christmas, many games were played in poor weather, and the 1967 game between Colorado and Miami drew only 30,156. Something had to be done.
Of course, Houston opened the Astrodome in 1965, and it became home to the Houston Oilers, the University of Houston football games, and Astros baseball games. So, some parties thought it made sense to make the bowl game an even bigger attraction by moving it to the Astrodome and playing on New Year's Eve.
The Houston Sports Association, led by former mayor Roy Hofheinz, secretly negotiated the switch with the NCAA and renamed the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. They didn't consult the Southwest Conference or the Cotton Bowl officials in Dallas. Despite the game being the day before and 250 miles away from the Cotton Bowl, many felt the move infringed on the Cotton Bowl's time and territory. Feathers, which are twice as big in Texas, were ruffled.
Publicly, the Executive Secretary of the Cotton Bowl dismissed Houston's move, saying:
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