April 1, 2008

SAN ANTONIO, TX - The 2008 Valero Alamo Bowl will kickoff on Monday, December 29 at 7 p.m. CST in a nationally televised game on ESPN unopposed from any other college or NFL football games on network television.

This marks the fifth time in the last eight years the game will be played on December 29 and will be the second Monday night kickoff in the bowl's 16 year history. Nebraska and Michigan State played on Monday, December 29 in the 2003 game.

"The chance to play unopposed from other games during the Monday Night Football window will allow the Valero Alamo Bowl to reach a wide audience," said Derrick Fox, Valero Alamo Bowl President/CEO. "The Monday kickoff should also work well for people traveling to the game since Christmas falls on a Thursday this year allowing fans to spend the weekend in San Antonio."

The 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl, which featured Penn State's 24-17 victory over Texas A&M, was a December 29 game date in front of an Alamodome record 66,166 fans. The sellout was the bowl's third in the last four games.

Last year's game also delivered record visitor spending to San Antonio as the 55,174 out-of-city visitors resulted in a direct economic impact of $42.6 million.

"Valero is a longtime supporter of the Alamo Bowl, but this was our first year as the title sponsor, and we couldn't be more pleased with the way things turned out," said Mike Ciskowski, Valero Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "We are proud to be affiliated with an event that delivers such a positive economic impact on our city, and we are looking forward to the 2008 Valero Alamo Bowl."

Since its inception, the Valero Alamo Bowl has hosted over 880,000 spectators at 15 bowl games combining for a $273 million direct economic impact on San Antonio as well as another $26 million in measurable media exposure from the 74 million viewers of the national telecasts on ESPN. The 2005 and 2006 Alamo Bowl telecasts rank as the #3 and #1 most-watched bowl games in ESPN history, respectively.

"The Valero Alamo Bowl has a long history of tremendous viewership on ESPN and is one of the anchors of our Capital One Bowl Week lineup," said Dave Brown, ESPN vice president, programming and acquisitions. "We are proud to have been the exclusive television home for this game since its first year and look forward to another great match-up between the Big Ten and Big 12."

Tickets for the 2008 Valero Alamo Bowl will go on sale to the general public through Ticketmaster and the Alamodome Southwest Box Office on Wednesday, August 27.

Fans can purchase an option ticket online starting on Monday, April 14 at www.alamobowl.com courtesy of AT&T. An option ticket purchase allows fans to renew the same seat each year and have priority status to purchase tickets to additional games the Valero Alamo Bowl hosts at the Alamodome such as last year's Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship or the Notre Dame vs. Washington State game on October 31, 2009.

For more information on the 2008 Valero Alamo Bowl and its Community Festival of Events, please call (210) 226-BOWL (2695) or visit the bowl online at www.alamobowl.com.