My beloved Arizona Wildcats are facing the Nebraska Cornhuskers tonight in this year’s Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. The Cats won this bowl and beat the same opponent back in 1998 when I was a freshman at the UA. In honor of the only bowl game I really care about, today’s post is about the corporate sponsorships surrounding the college bowl series.
For anyone watching the bowl games for personal or financial (yes, that means you office pool pickers) reasons, you can’t help but notice that every bowl game has a sponsoring company name in its title. These deals are big bucks for the schools that play as it has created more bowl opportunities in recent years, but it is also an easy way for businesses to get their names in front of the millions of football fans watching the games. But, sometimes you have to wonder if the San Diego County Credit Union really gets anything out of sponsoring the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl other than fans rolling their eyes or ESPN’s Chris Berman tripping over his tongue while trying to say the game’s name.
U.S. News and World Report’s Rick Newman shared his thoughts earlier this month in an article entitled “The Worst College Bowl Sponsors.” Some of Rick’s points are spot on. I agree that Tostitos is a natural fit to sponsor the Fiesta Bowl, especially as I’m eating those tasty chips with salsa while watching the big game. But why not the PapaJohns.com Bowl? I could easily be trading those chips in for a nice slice of veggie pizza I ordered over the internet. His argument is not consistent here. But the main point I agree on is that there are sponsors in these bowls that have nothing to do with football. Their brands do not fit in with the sport, its players, the fans and the game’s excitement. Companies, especially financial ones like the San Diego County Credit Union, Citi Bank and GMAC, could easily find something better and more relevant to do with their money.
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