NEW ORLEANS (December 26) – The official Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year's Parade presented by Louisiana Tourism, a Mardi Gras-style parade with floats, bands and other participants, entertains fans of all ages prior to the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The parade, which is scheduled for the afternoon of December 31 (2 p.m. start), will start at the intersection of Elysian Fields Avenue and Decatur Street. It will travel through the French Quarter up Decatur Street along the Mississippi River, passing iconic landmarks such as The Old US Mint, the French Market, Cafe du Monde and Jackson Square. The Parade will wrap up at Canal Street.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year's Parade will be broadcast live on Nola38CW (WNOL-TV) in New Orleans. The official broadcast, presented by Sunshine Quality Solutions, will include a live online broadcast that can be found by visiting wgno.com. In addition, the parade will be rebroadcast on WGNO-TV ABC 26 on New Year's Day starting at 9 a.m.
 
In addition to the New Year's Parade, the Allstate Sugar Bowl is a proud sponsor of the NOLA New Year's Eve Fireworks Show. Produced by the Crescent City Countdown Club in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Cultural Economy and the New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund, this internationally acclaimed tradition is a community project made possible by New Orleans & Company, with the Allstate Sugar Bowl and many other dedicated community sponsors.
 
The spectacular free fireworks display along the historic New Orleans Riverfront in downtown New Orleans can be seen from the East and West Banks of the Mississippi River, from the Riverwalk Outlets and the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, to Crescent Park at the French Market. At the stroke of midnight an intense barrage of colors – including team colors of the Allstate Sugar Bowl contenders, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish – will light up the dark sky. The extraordinary display will feature ten-inch shells that travel 1,000 feet high, then break out across a 1,000-foot span over the Mighty Mississippi.
 
This year's Allstate Sugar Bowl, the 91st edition of the college football classic, will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal – it will feature No. 2 Georgia, the SEC Champion, and No. 7 Notre Dame. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:45 p.m. (Central) on Wednesday, January 1, in the Caesars Superdome and will be televised by ESPN. This will be the 63rd Sugar Bowl match-up between teams ranked in the Top 10 and the 37th match-up of 10-win teams.
 
"It's an honor for the Sugar Bowl Committee to be a part of the College Football Playoff," said Jeff Hundley, the chief executive officer of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. "This year's match-up features two of college football's elite. Georgia and Notre Dame have both realized historic moments with the Bowl – Notre Dame won a national championship here in the Sugar Bowl in 1973; and eight years later these same two teams met in the Sugar Bowl with Georgia earning the national title. Now we get a tremendous rematch for our organization's first-ever College Football Playoff Quarterfinal. We're so proud to do our part in keeping New Orleans at the pinnacle of the college football world."
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.