Las Vegas Bowl adds Mitsubishi Motors as title sponsor

Mitsubishi Motors has signed on as the title sponsor of the Las Vegas Bowl for the next two bowls, event officials announced Thursday.

The bowl, which will be played Dec. 15 at Sam Boyd Stadium, will be known as the Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl.

“Incredibly excited to have Mitsubishi,” bowl executive director John Saccenti said. “It’s a brand that is world wide coming in out of Japan. Mitsubishi is one of those legendary iconic brands and for us to have them on board is great.

“They want to be involved in college football beyond our event. I think it’s something that is a true sense of a partnership that we can all grow from together, and that’s all you could ask of a sponsor.”

The bowl went without a sponsor last year after Geico was a presenting sponsor in 2016 after Royal Purple owned the naming rights in 2013-15.

Entering its 27th edition, the Las Vegas Bowl is in its penultimate year at Sam Boyd Stadium and will move the Raiders’ stadium in 2020.

There could also be a new format with the Las Vegas Bowl pitting teams from the Pac-12 and SEC against each other.

In recent years, the Las Vegas Bowl has contractually featured a matchup between the top pick in the Mountain West and the sixth choice from the Pac-12. The Las Vegas Bowl will continue with that format for the next two years before potentially making a switch.

“It’s an exciting time for the game and its future,” Saccenti said. “The conversations are hot and heavy and they’re moving fast. All the deals for 2020 are going to be made in the next couple of weeks.”

RJ sports reporter Gilbert Manzano contributed to this report. Bill Bradley is sports editor of the Review-Journal. He can be reached at bbradley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2909. Follow on Twitter at @billbradleyLV.