The Valero Alamo Bowl was created in 1993 with the following mission statement: "To stage a premier college football game as the showcase of an annual festival of events that will bring enjoyment to South Texans, San Antonians and visitors alike while driving positive national attention to San Antonio and supporting higher education and other worthy causes in our community."

December means more than Christmas lights and jingle bells to San Antonio. Since the first game in 1993, the Valero Alamo Bowl has created excitement and pageantry in San Antonio that wraps up the end of the month with thrilling games in front of capacity crowds and record television ratings.

The Valero Alamo Bowl showcases two of the premier conferences in the country, the Big 12 and Pac-10. The Bowl has quickly become one of the most popular bowls in the country, producing three of the Top 6 most-watched bowl games in ESPN history while selling out three of the last four years.

Over the last 17 years, the Valero Alamo Bowl has hosted 17 bowl games and three Big 12 Football Championship games in the Alamodome in San Antonio. These 20 games have attracted 1,196,496 spectators (over 50% are out-of-town visitors), generated a direct economic impact in excess of $310 million, contributed nearly $57 million to higher education, distributed $625,000 in local scholarship funds and been viewed by 144 million national television viewers on ESPN and ABC.

In its first January 2 appearance the Valero Alamo Bowl lived up to its billing as Texas Tech outlasted Michigan State and secured a 41-31 victory in front of a soldout Alamodome. It was the fifth straight game where the outcome wasn't decided until the final two minutes. The January 2, Valero Alamo Bowl also received the honor of being the "most-watched bowl game in ESPN history" as over 7.8 million viewers tuned into the ESPN broadcast.

In 2008, 7 million viewers watched #23 Missouri top #20 Northwestern in 30-23 in what was only the second overtime game in Valero Alamo Bowl history. In 2007 an Alamodome record sports crowd of 66,166 for the 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl between Penn State and Texas A&M translated into a bowl record $42.6 million direct economic impact for San Antonio. In 2006, the Alamo Bowl featured Texas and Iowa in a game that earned a 6.0 rating making it the at the time the most-watched college football game in ESPN history.

To download a snapshot of all the previous Alamo Bowl games including attendance and TV rating records, please click here.

From NCAA record-breaking performances like Nebraska's 66 points in 2000 to thrilling finishes like Drew Brees leading Purdue in an 80 yard touchdown drive to overtake Kansas State in 1998 in the final seconds, the Valero Alamo Bowl has something for everyone.

This year the 18th annual Valero Alamo Bowl will be played on December 29, 2010. The game will televised internationally on ESPN HD as well as heard on ESPN Radio.

For information on past Valero Alamo Bowls, please click the respective links below: