[1] Although December in Seattle is traditionally home to an average temperature of 41° and 2/3 of the days have rain, Oahu Bowl officials sought to move their game to the west coast mainland after the 2000 season.

The committee and city also had hoped that the game would add tourist dollars to what is normally the slowest tourism week of the year.

In 2001 the game was able to secure sponsorship from Jeep and matched the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the ACC against the then 11th ranked nationally Stanford University Cardinal.

The Seattle Bowl beat an NCAA mandated deadline for a letter of credit for $1.5 million by less than one hour to insure a second game.

However, the game had increased its payout to $1 million per team and was unable to attract a title sponsor resulting in heavy losses.