Freedom Bowl Date Is Moved

This year’s Freedom Bowl will be played four days later than last year’s inaugural game, Tom Starr, the bowl’s executive director, has announced.

This year’s game will be Dec. 30 at 5 p.m. in Anaheim Stadium. The first Freedom Bowl, played Dec. 26 of last year, was a financial disappointment. On a rainy night, only 24,093 watched Iowa beat Texas, 51-17.

The switch to a later date was done for two reasons: in order to attract a bigger local crowd and to help the participating teams draw more of their fans to Anaheim. Few Iowa or Texas fans accompanied the teams last year, apparently because the game was played only a day after Christmas.