| 1996 Las Vegas Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 19, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Sam Boyd Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Whitney, Nevada | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Mike Crawford | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$150,000 per team[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1996 Las Vegas Bowl was the fifth edition of the annual college football bowl game. It featured the Nevada Wolf Pack, the champions of the Big West Conference, and the Ball State Cardinals, the champions of the Mid-American Conference.
This bowl was the last to feature the Big West and MAC champions as automatic qualifiers, ending a tradition that had begun in 1981, when the California Bowl was founded. Two additional bowls were added to accommodate the conferences, with the Big West champion receiving an automatic berth in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise and the MAC champion receiving an automatic berth in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit.