Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is a college bowl game played each year in San Francisco, Calif. The game matches up a representative from the Pac-12 with an eligible team from the ACC. At one time, it was the only bowl game held in a baseball-specific stadium, although it now is one of three. Title sponsor Kraft donates one meal to each of three local charities for each ticket sold.

The game was moved from a post-New Year's slot to Dec. 30 for the 2011 season, when Illinois beat UCLA.

Executives at AT&T Park first began discussion of the bowl in 1999, when they decided to examine uses for the stadium outside of the Giants' schedule. A college bowl game was one of the first areas they began to explore. The idea was well-received, and by the time they went before the NCAA in 2002, the bowl already had four-year agreements with the Big East and Mountain West conferences and a seven-year deal with ESPN.

NCAA approved the plans two days after they were presented, and the bowl was born -- then known as the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. Its first game was played Dec. 31, 2002, featuring Air Force and Virginia Tech, which rallied to win the inaugural matchup. The bowl kept its service academy link strong two years later, when Navy defeated New Mexico in 2004 in what had become the Emerald Bowl, sponsored by Emerald Nuts.

The 2006 game -- the fourth edition of the bowl -- was the true breakthrough, as Florida State and UCLA faced off. The game sold out for the first time and earned a 4.5 TV rating. Oregon State came to San Francisco in 2007, and the bowl realized the Pac-10 was a large draw for the area. It signed on to a long-term contract with the conference.

Local draw California participated in 2008 and led the bowl to its highest attendance total yet, a standing-room-only 42,268. A second straight sellout -- and third in four years -- followed in 2009, when USC defeated Boston College. That game became the third-most-watched bowl ever on ESPN.

Kraft Foods signed on as title sponsor in 2010 and launched a wide-reaching hunger relief program alongside the bowl. For each ticket sold, Kraft donates one meal to each of three local hunger-fighting charities: the San Francisco Food Bank, the St. Anthony Foundation and the Glide Foundation. Kraft also hosts a food drive at the bowl, and each participating team volunteers at the food banks in the week before the game.

In 2011, the game moved to Jan. 9, marking the first time the game will not be played in December. Instead of being played on New Year's Eve, as in the previous seven years, the game will be played the night before the BCS National Championship Game, still on ESPN. It moved back to its traditional New Year's Eve slot following the 2011 season.

The bowl game is played each year at AT&T Park, the home stadium of the San Francisco Giants. At the time of its inaugural game, the bowl was one of two held in baseball-specific stadiums, as well as the Insight Bowl, which had been played at Chase Field. That game moved in 2005, making the Emerald Bowl the only college bowl game held in a baseball stadium. The Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl began playing at Tropicana Field in 2008, and the New Era Pinstripe Bowl began at Yankee Stadium starting in 2010, so now the bowl is one of three.