Holiday Bowl seeks $3M for ’21 UCLA withdrawal
Might 31, 2023, 08:01 PM ET
SAN DIEGO– The company that runs the Holiday Bowl is suing the Pac-12 Conference and the University of California Regents due to the fact that UCLA revoked the 2021 game mentioning COVID-19 concerns.The San Diego Championship game Association is looking for a minimum of$3 million in compensatory damages in a claim submitted Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Diego County.UCLA announced less than 5 hours prior to it was
expected to begin versus North Carolina State on Dec. 28, 2021, that it was pulling out of the game after 3 protective linemen checked favorable for COVID-19. The 10-page filing comes more than 17 months after negotiations in between the bowl company and the Pac-12 failed to come to a resolution. The filing by the bowl organization alleges “a failure of accuseds to accept duty and accountability for their conduct, which triggered substantial damages to plaintiff.”The championship game company states it lost nearly $8 million due to the cancellation, including$ 3.6 million in ticket
earnings and$1.4 million that needed to be returned to the game’s title sponsor.The bowl organization has actually not paid Oregon or the Pac-12 the $2.45 million it owes for the Ducks’participation in the 2022 game, stating it would be applied toward damages for the cancellation of the 2021 game.The Pac-12 said in a statement:”Regardless of the Pac-12’s good faith efforts to discover an amicable and reasonable resolution, the Holiday Bowl filed a lawsuit today seeking to leverage for its own monetary gain the international COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the cancellation of the 2021 Holiday Bowl. The Vacation Bowl is now likewise declining to pay the fees it owes the Pac-12 for our member organization’s involvement in the 2022 Vacation Bowl, in clear breach of our contract.”The Pac-12 prepares to intensely defend against the suit, which is wholly without merit, and to look for the monies owed by the Vacation Bowl under our arrangement.”UCLA representatives declined to discuss the lawsuit.