The caretakers of the Arizona Bowl thought they might enjoy a relatively relaxing “Selection Sunday.” But they didn’t assume anything.
Arizona Bowl co-founder Ali Farhang and executive director Kym Adair have been through this too many times. They know that stuff can happen — and that it usually does.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
So it wasn’t surprising that Farhang, Adair and a handful of others in the know were feeling a bit uneasy Sunday as they awaited official word on who the 2025 participants would be.
At 12:28 p.m. — about a half-hour later than planned — light applause broke out as Farhang and Adair made their way to the stage at the plaza outside Union Public House. The matchup was set: Fresno State would take on Miami (Ohio) in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop on Dec. 27 at Casino Del Sol Stadium.
I asked Adair to describe what this Selection Sunday had been like. She let out a long exhale.
Ali Farhang, Arizona Bowl co-founder and chairman, hypes up the room during the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl luncheon at Tucson Convention Center, Oct. 30, 2025.
“It's such a relief,” Adair said. “We work so hard all year for this day and the next 20 days.”
I’ve known Farhang for the better part of a decade. He’s also an attorney and a radio host, among other duties. I’ve never seen him look flustered. Sunday came close.
“We knew the matchup we wanted,” Farhang said. “We knew the schools that we wanted here. To have any uncertainty about that, yeah, it creates a lot of tension, because we're trying to do what's best for our town.
“These two schools coming here on Dec. 27 is best for our town. To have it change in any way (at the) last second, there's a certain amount of consternation.”
‘It all worked out’
The uncertainty of it all didn’t end Sunday afternoon. There’s more to come. We’ll get to that later.
First, let’s delve into what caused the consternation.
Would you believe it was Kansas State and Iowa State?
A Miami (Ohio) cheerleader gets zoomed through the end zone after the RedHawks scored in the third quarter against Colorado State in the Arizona Bowl, Dec, 28, 2024.
When KSU and ISU — which are both going through coaching transitions — opted out of bowl games, it created a cascading effect.
The Big 12 Conference has a set number of bowl obligations. When the Manhattan Wildcats and Cyclones bowed out, a contingency kicked in for the Rate Bowl, which suddenly didn’t have a Big 12 option.
The Mountain West is the “backup conference” for the Rate Bowl, Adair explained.
“When Kansas State and Iowa State ended up dropping out of the bowl-picking landscape, that meant there weren't enough teams to fulfill that bowl obligation, so the Mountain West had to give one of their teams to that bowl,” Adair said. “That just affects everybody down the chain.”
Arizona Bowl officials were concerned that the Rate Bowl would pluck Fresno State at the last minute. (The official opt-out announcements from KSU and ISU came Sunday morning.) The Arizona Bowl had its sights set on the Bulldogs, who’ve never played in Tucson’s bowl game and have a robust, enthusiastic fan base (No. 1 in the Mountain West in attendance this year).
Fresno State defensive lineman Finn Claypool (19) catches up to Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) to help make a stop just short of a first down during the first half of their game, Aug. 23, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan.
Instead, the Rate Bowl took New Mexico, which will face Minnesota on Dec. 26 in Phoenix.
Whew.
“We had been targeting these two teams (Fresno and Miami) for several weeks now with the hopes that we'd be able to get them,” Adair said. “We had it pretty locked in — as of (Saturday), really. Then some of that disruption happened in the college football landscape that made us a little worried.
“But it all worked out the way we hoped it would — the way the video we made said it would.”
The official introductory video that played on the big screen behind the stage featured Snoop Dogg welcoming the teams. Eric Rhodes, VP of communications for the Arizona Bowl, told me he sent six options to Snoop just in case. Rhodes also had multiple news releases and graphics in the queue if the desired Fresno-Miami matchup imploded.
Farhang described the final moments before a bowl announcement as akin to “building the airplane while it’s in flight.”
A graphic featuring Snoop Dogg depicts the participants in the 2025 Arizona Bowl, Fresno State and Miami (Ohio), during a reveal party at Union Public House on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025.
Not only did the Arizona Bowl build the plane, it was able to land it safely.
One more year?
The current contractual cycle for bowl games is set to expire after this season. Except it might not.
This time, the culprit is the College Football Playoff.
The CFP and ESPN were supposed to decide by Dec. 1 whether they would change the playoff format. They pushed that deadline back to Jan. 23.
If they’re unable to decide on a new format, it’s possible that everything will remain the same for 2026 — including the current bowl tie-ins.
“We're all sort of in a holding pattern,” Adair said. “Typically, our contracts with conferences are done a year and a half in advance. Next year, right now, we don't have contracts. No bowls do.
Kym Adair, executive director for the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, presents the Volpe Tucson Strong Award to Empower Coalition during a luncheon at Tucson Convention Center, Oct. 30, 2025.
“If that deadline passes in January, the discussion is that everybody will renew for one more year on the current contracts they have, giving the CFP time to get that deal done. So '26 would look exactly the same.”
One Arizona Bowl official described the prospect of not knowing what was to come as “terrifying.” But Farhang said he and his team will be ready when the bowls get the green light to sign new deals.
“There's a lot of great things that are on the precipice of happening with the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl,” Farhang said. “When college football gets its act together, then we can actually start making the moves that are going to be impactful to our community.
“But we already have plans in place. We already have things that are put in motion. So that when that happens, we're not going to be catching up with anybody. We're going to be ahead of the game.
“I think people are ... really happy with where our game is today. But where it's going in the future, it's going to be really exciting. Wish I could tell you more.”
Fresno State wide receiver Ezekiel Avit (84) catches a pass as Kansas safety Lyrik Rawls, left, defends during the first half of a game on Aug. 23, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan.
I asked Adair if she could reveal the conferences they’re eyeing for the next cycle. She declined, understandably.
This much we know: The Snoop Dogg sponsorship runs through 2026, regardless of the participants. And this year’s game is set.
Adair could take solace in that after another nerve-racking Selection Sunday.
“It never fails,” Adair said, sipping an apricot Gin & Juice. “I had people ask me in the last few days, ‘Is it 100%?’ There's a lot of things that happen as soon as we announce; it's so much better if we know that earlier and can do things ahead of time.
“I said, ‘I'm 95% sure. But anything can happen on Selection Sunday.’
“You think (you) know who it's going to be, but you never know until it's actually the day.”
Even then, you might have to wait till after lunch.
