Jimmy Kimmel fulfills dream of having a college football bowl game named after him

Deadline

Kimmel announced on his late-night show that he'll be the sponsor of the inaugural Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl game on ABC on Dec. 18, pitting the No. 1 Mountain West team vs. the No. 5 Pac-12 team at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium. (Kimmel is an alum of UNLV, a Mountain West Conference school, and Arizona State, a Pac-12 Conference school). “Never before has a bowl game been named after a human being -- and Papa John doesn't count, he's barely human," said Kimmel, adding: “On December 18, my dream of being forever enshrined alongside orange, rose, cotton and peach comes true.” Kimmel said it's been a dream since last year to have his own bowl game. "This is not a joke. This is a real bowl game named after me," he said. Veteran college football journalist Stewart Mandel said of the Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl: "Given the game, like his show, is on ABC, here's guessing Jimmy isn't footing the bill himself. But it's still genius."