Community Outreach

The Valero Alamo Bowl stages a premier college football game as the showcase of an annual festival of events.

Mission
The Valero Alamo Bowl was created in 1993 to bring enjoyment to South Texans, San Antonians, and visitors alike while creating positive economic impact, experiences and national attention for the community and participating universities.

In its 31st year, the Valero Alamo Bowl boasts an enviable track record of exciting games in front of capacity crowds that deliver a positive impact for San Antonio and exposure for both the city and the schools playing in the game.

The Valero Alamo Bowl has hosted 30 bowl games that have combined to attract over 1.75 million spectators, generate a total economic impact in excess of $1 billion dollars and contribute over $143 million to higher education through team payouts ($134.6 million) and local scholarships ($8.4 million).

Bowl Growth 
After paying each team playing in the 1993 Builders Square Alamo Bowl $720,000, the Valero Alamo Bowl combined team payout to the Big 12 and Pac-12 will be over $9.5 million for the 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl in 2022.

Raising more money for the higher payouts has been worth it as they deliver higher profile teams to San Antonio which translates into greater recognition, tourism and economic vibrancy to the city.

The 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl is the fourth year of a new six-year agreement to bring the top teams from Big 12 and Pac‐12 conferences outside the CFP to San Antonio. Six of the eight games with this matchup has featured Top 20 match-up.

Neutral Site Games
Since economic development is the Valero Alamo Bowl’s focus and basis of the organization’s non-profit status, the Valero Alamo Bowl also strives to bring other events to San Antonio that deliver positive results.

In addition to annually producing the Valero Alamo Bowl and its 20+ ancillary events, the organization has also served as the local host for 11 neutral site games that have combined to deliver $167 million in total economic impact for San Antonio. These games include three Big 12 Football Championships (1997, 1999 and 2007) and two Notre Dame Shamrock Series games (2009 and 2016).

The most impactful of these games was the 2007 Big 12 Football Championship. The game featured #9 Oklahoma’s upset win against #1 Missouri. It was ABC/ESPN’s most-watched college regular season game of the year with 11.8 million viewers. In addition to the media exposure for San Antonio, the fans traveling to watch this Top 10 match-up delivered a $57.8 million total economic impact for the city.

Community Programs
The growth of the Valero Alamo Bowl along with the extension of its partnerships with Valero and ESPN along with Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences through the 2025 football season has allowed our community outreach to increase.

In June 2017, the Valero Alamo Bowl contributed $6 million for technology upgrades at the Alamodome. This new funding allowed an expanded public Wi-Fi system, two additional HD video screens and sound system upgrades. This brought a total of $60 million in Alamodome improvements in time for the facility to host the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four and will benefit all future events.

Valero, who has been a sponsor of the bowl since its inception and title sponsor since 2007, and a loyal base of partners and ticket buyers have fueled the expansion of several of the Bowl’s community programs.

Scholarships

Since 2016, the Valero Alamo Bowl and its partners have annually awarded over $1 million to San Antonio high school and college students. This amount is the largest local scholarship total among all of the bowl games. 

Inclusive of the 160 winners that will were selected to receive bowl scholarships in 2021, an excess of $8 million has been awarded to 1,395 winners since 2000.

For the 30th anniversary, the Valero Alamo Bowl is striving to award a record 185 scholarships with winners selected from every San Antonio area high school and four-year university.

The Valero Alamo Bowl started a scholarship program in 2000 with 26 San Antonio high school students splitting $52,000 in scholarships.

The success of the game allowed the Bowl to add a college scholarship program in 2016 with matching support from each San Antonio area four-year university.  These two programs now combine to award $1+ million to 180+ deserving students each year. This amount is the largest local scholarship total among the 40+ bowl games.

Thanks to a record setting 2022 season the Valero Alamo Bowl has awarded over $9.4 million in scholarships split between 1,580 area winners through two programs.

Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete Scholarship Program (High School Seniors):

Each December there are 85+ high schools scholarship winners of a $7,500 Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete Scholarship. The students include at least one winner from every participating San Antonio area public and private high school.

The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, teacher recommendations, financial need, involvement in extracurricular activities, and varsity sports as well as honors received and a personal narrative. It is mandatory that each applicant have at least one varsity letter.

In addition to the scholarship, the winners are annually recognized at the H-E-B Scholarship Awards Luncheon and on-field during the Valero Alamo Bowl courtesy of game tickets provided by Frost and the Valero Alamo Bowl.

In 2022, there were 91 winners representing 72 different San Antonio area high schools.

Interested in the 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl Scholar-Athlete Program?

Seniors from Bexar County public schools and long-established private schools who have can obtain their Bexar County Scholarship Clearing House application from their school’s College and Career coordinator. Each school that turns in applicants that meet all the scholarship criteria will receive at least one winner.

Outer market public high schools (those outside of Bexar County but within 25 miles of the Alamodome) with an enrollment of 400+ students can request an application to share with their top student-athletes for consideration. While these schools don’t have guaranteed winners, these applicants are reviewed annually and multiple outer market school winners are chosen each year.

2023 Key Dates (tentative):

September 7-8: Bexar county schools to pick up their allotment of applications and Booklets of San Antonio / Bexar County Scholarship Opportunities for High School Seniors from the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. Outer market public schools can email info@alamobowl.com to receive an application.
November 4: Deadline for schools to submit their allotted student applications to the Foundation (each school’s internal deadlines vary so check with your school’s Counseling Office).
December 6: Winners notified and invited to the Valero Alamo Bowl.
December 14: Winners recognized at the H-E-B Scholarship Luncheon.
December 29: Winners recognized on the field during the first quarter of the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Each high school will have the opportunity to submit up to six applicants so interested students should check with their guidance departments to inquire about the status of their Valero Alamo Bowl submissions.

Applicants must have at least one varsity letter from participating in a sport and be ranked in the top 20% of their class. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, teacher recommendations, evaluation of the applicant’s personal narrative and involvement in extra-curricular activities including awards, honors received, leadership/awards, and number of varsity letters earned while playing their sport.

Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship (College Juniors and Seniors):

The Bowl’s college program is called the Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship and is funded by the Bowl and matching programs at all six of San Antonio’s four-year universities. The scholarship total and number of winners is announced at the start of each college football season.

On August 31, 2022, a record 97 winners from University of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary’s University, Texas A&M–San Antonio, Trinity University, and UTSA sharing $610,000 in awards were recognized at the Rudy’s PNC Pigskin Preview Luncheon. To view these winners, please click here. 

While each San Antonio university determines its own criteria for selecting the winners, the program’s focus is junior and seniors with a high propensity to stay and work in San Antonio.

Valero Alamo Bowl scholarship programs are funded through Bowl partners and ticket buyers as well as direct contributions from Frost Bank, H-E-B, NuStar Energy, Valero, and the six San Antonio four-year universities.

For information on how you support the Bowl scholarship programs, please call 210-704-6388 or email here.

Extra Yard for Teachers

In honor of the Bowl’s 30th anniversary, the Valero Alamo Bowl and PNC Bank proudly awarded 30 grants to 30 dedicated teachers as part of the College Football Playoff Foundation’s Extra Yard for Teachers program in 2022.

With additional support from Dr. Richard and Jennifer Steffen, KPMG, and Ryan Velasquez, the Valero Alamo Bowl and PNC Bank representatives visited San Antonio campuses to surprise many of the winning teachers with their well-deserved awards.

Military Appreciation Programs

San Antonio’s military community is an important part of the city and its history. With the help of our military appreciation partner USAA, the Valero Alamo Bowl annually hosts members of the Wounded Warriors Project, USO, and Vet Tix each year. These efforts are also supported thanks to contributions from Anne and Steve Ballantyne, Bud Light/Silver Eagle Beverages, Hero Hut, The Law Offices of William B. Kingman, and Teresa and David R. Schmidt, M.D.

The Valero Alamo Bowl also underwrites specially priced tickets to allow another 1,500 military personnel and their families to attend each game.

Fill The Bowl Food Drive Presented by Texas Mutual Insurance Company

For the last 25 years, the Valero Alamo Bowl has teamed up with the San Antonio Food Bank for the “Fill the Bowl Food Drive Presented by Texas Mutual” fundraiser to help provide meals for local families. For the 2022 season, fans received a complimentary ticket to the 30th Annual Valero Alamo Bowl in exchange for every $30 or 30 items donated to the San Antonio Food Bank.

Youth Support
To provide opportunities for deserving youth to see the excitement of college football in person, the Valero Alamo Bowl matches donations from our partners to underwrite an average of 1,000 game tickets for local charity organizations such as Baptist Children’s Home, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Family Service Association, First Tee, and Youth Alternatives to attend as a group.

An annual Bowl Week tradition is the each participating university hosting the residents of Boysville at a practice. Following lunch, the players toss footballs, run races, and do dance moves with the children who attend the game courtesy of Glass Wealth Management.

To register a non-profit as a perspective beneficiary of these group charity tickets or become a donor, please email the bowl office by November 15 each year.

To request more information or discuss ways to partner on a community relations program, please e-mail Rick Hill.