State football bowl games return to Home Depot Center

The CIF state football championship bowl games will remain at the Home Depot Center in Carson for the next two years, CIF Executive Director Marie Ishida announced Wednesday.

Five bowl games will be played over two days, on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20, matching teams from Southern California against those from Northern California.

Home Depot beat out six other sites that bid to host the bowl games, and it was a comeback of sorts. After hosting the event the last two years, the facility was considered a longshot to retain the bowl games because of cost concerns in its original proposal. However, a new proposal was made last week after a representatives held a meeting with Roger Blake, the CIF assistant executive director.

Blake said the CIF will become “partners” with Home Depot instead of a tenant, allowing both sides to share in financial aspects of the event.

Several of the factors that weighed into CIF’s decision to return to Home Depot Center included the size of the venue - it seats 27,000 – its location, the facility offerings and venue management’s ability to make a return financially feasible.

“The Home Depot Center worked with us to bring CIF back to their facility,” Ishida said in a news release. “Their willingness to provide a financial deal and other incentives indicated their strong desire for our football championships to return. Even though several other venues across the state expressed interest in hosting these games, the Home Depot Center offered an agreement that we could not refuse.”

The CIF had also received bids from the L.A. Coliseum, Stanford, San Jose State, UC Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield College.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com