As new LA Bowl host, Ex-Arizona football star Rob Gronkowski wants Wildcats in game

Rob Gronkowski wants his Arizona Wildcats at his 2023 pre-holiday party.

Question is: Can the Wildcats find a way to earn an official invite?

The LA Bowl announced Saturday that Gronkowksi, the oft-cartoon-like, now-retired NFL legend who played his college ball in Tucson during the Mike Stoops era, has signed a multiyear agreement to partner with the college football postseason game.

“LA Bowl hosted by Gronk” is set for Dec. 16 at SoFi Stadium and matches teams from the Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences.

Gronkowski said his dream would be if Arizona could become bowl-eligible and be the Pac-12’s pick. The Wildcats (4-3 overall, 2-2 in Pac-12 play) would need two more wins to be postseason eligible for the first time since 2017.

“The whole goal is hopefully to land the University of Arizona,” he said. “And if we can’t, there’s a lot of good teams in the Pac-12 that would be a great matchup no matter who it is.”

The four-time Super Bowl champion tight end’s attachment to the bowl game at the now 3-year-old, $5 billion-plus Inglewood, California, stadium replaces that of late-night television personality Jimmy Kimmel.

“Jimmy was a fantastic host and brought a lot of elements to the game. But it’s my turn now and I’m going to turn it up, that’s for sure,” Gronkowski said.

Gronkowski said having this bowl game named after him is, in some ways, a full-circle moment. His Arizona squad defeated BYU 31-21 in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl, which hosted the Mountain West-Pac-12 matchup before it was relocated to Los Angeles in 2021.

Rob’s brother and UA teammate Chris Gronkowski, caught a 24-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to give the Wildcats their first bowl victory and winning season in 10 years.

It also ended up being Rob Gronkowski’s final collegiate game for the Wildcats. He sat out the 2009 season due to back surgery before being drafted in the second round by the New England Patriots in 2010. His four Super Bowl titles during an 11-year career included three with the New England Patriots and one most recently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021.

Kimmel, who hosted the first two editions of the LA Bowl, had a vomiting camel — “Jimmy Camel” — as a mascot and an official sandwich as ways to keep the fans entertained.

Gronkowski didn’t mention anything about a mascot, but he did say he was coming up with a special performance either at halftime or during the game along the lines of when he performed on “The Masked Singer” in 2020.

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The winning team, along with the offensive and defensive MVPs, will continue to receive their own championship belts.

The game will feature the top selection from the Mountain West and the Pac-12’s No. 5 pick after the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six matchups are set. The Mountain West has won the past two games, including Fresno State’s 29-6 victory over Washington State last year.

Arizona’s bowl scenario flipped square around a week ago after coach Jedd Fisch’s team dismantled then-ranked Washington State, 44-6 in Pullman, Washington. But now the Wildcats have multiple intriguing possibilities for fans should they continue those winning ways.

The Pac-12 has ties to a number of bowls, including the Las Vegas Bowl, the Sun Bowl in El Paso, and the LA Bowl.

The LA Bowl’s SoFi stadium is just minutes from LAX, which is a 90-minute direct flight from Tucson International Airport. Add in the “Gronk” factor, and that likely ups the attraction for the UA and fans alike.

The Sun Bowl on Dec. 29 may not seem as glamorous as Vegas or Southern California, but, door-to-door, it’s roughly a 4½-hour drive from the UA campus.

And the Las Vegas Bowl, in the also-nearly-new Allegiant Stadium, brings intrigue of its own. Should Arizona win enough to move up the Pac-12 standings and earn a Vegas invite, the Wildcats would take the field at 5:30 (Tucson time) on Dec. 23. Conveniently, that same day, just blocks away, the No. 12 UA men’s basketball team takes on No. 10 FAU — the Panthers fresh off a Final Four trip last spring — at 1 p.m.; that’s plenty of time for UA fans to indulge in a pre-Christmas, Vegas strip double-dip.

Arizona football joining its basketball brethren in Vegas may take some work, though, with El Paso or Inglewood seeming more likely for the Wildcats at this moment.

Jon Wilner's Pac-12 Hotline has Arizona trending toward the Sun Bowl as of this week, with No. 18 USC (6-1, 4-0) penciled for the Las Vegas Bowl. The Hotline has No. 25 UCLA (4-2, 1-2) in the LA Bowl entering this weekend’s matchups.

Arizona and UCLA square off in Tucson in two weeks — a week after the Wildcats host No. 12 Oregon State at Arizona Stadium.

With 10 schools leaving the Pac-12 at the end of the 2023-24 academic calendar, the lineup for the LA Bowl for 2024 and beyond will be determined some time next year.

— The Associated Press and the Star's Brett Fera contributed to this report.