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Lawry’s Beef Bowl is set to resume Thursday after a two-year coronavirus-related interruption with the University of Utah’s football team dining at the Beverly Hills prime rib restaurant.
The Rose Bowl teams annually participated in the Lawry’s Beef Bowl from 1956 though 2019. It was not held in 2020 because the Rose Bowl, which was a College Football Playoff Semifinal, was relocated to Arlington, Texas, based on “the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Southern California along with the inability to host player and coach guests at any game in California,” according to a statement from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.
The 2021 event was canceled one day before its planned start “given the growing concerns around COVID-19 and the Omicron variant,” the restaurant announced. Lawry’s packaged and delivered takeout meals for the players instead.
Shortly after the announcement of the cancellation Lawry’s The Prime Rib announced it would close in-restaurant dining until the first week in January 2022 due to what it called “unforeseen challenges and staffing issues related to the pandemic in recent weeks.”
The Beef Bowl is older than all but the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Sun, Cotton, Gator and Citrus bowls. It is billed by organizers as college football’s most enduring pre-bowl game tradition.
Lawry’s Beef Bowl has not been a competition since 1970. Coaches are informed that there is a limit of two servings of prime rib per player.
“The Beef Bowl is an opportunity for us to celebrate the players and coaches and kick off the festivities of the Rose Bowl Game,” said Ryan O’Melveny, CEO of Lawry’s Restaurants Inc.
Penn State, Utah’s opponent in Monday’s 109th Rose Bowl Game, is set to participate Friday.