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Exposure Is The Name Of The Game

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

Updated: 12/21/2007 12:22 am

GAINESVILLE - The man who once ran the Poulan/Weedeater Independence Bowl made a fair point this week.

"We were the butt of a lot of jokes," Glen Krupica said, "but nobody forgot who your sponsor was."

Krupica, an associate athletic director at Northern Illinois University who ran the Shreveport, La., Independence Bowl from 1994 to 2005, understands what's in a bowl game name. So does Outback Bowl President/CEO Jim McVay, who secured the future of his once-struggling bowl in April 1995 when he agreed to a then-blasphemous proposal that the title sponsor's name be the only word before the word "bowl."

"Having the right title sponsor," McVay said, "is critical for the success of a game."

Title sponsors come from all corners of the corporate world. This season, bowl sponsors include a local credit union (San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl), a helicopter company (Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl), a chain of truck stops (Roady's Humanitarian Bowl) and a brand of cologne you probably haven't smelled since the last time you went line dancing (Brut Sun Bowl).

But before you chuckle at the thought of a cologne company shelling out dollars for a football game, consider the benefits for the company. At worst, the company gets a three-hour, nationally televised commercial. At best, it gets exposure it could never purchase so cheaply.

$98 Million In Exposure

Though a title sponsor might provide only about 20 percent of a bowl's payout, it might spend two or three times that on advertising the bowls never could afford on their own. Also, a quality sponsor gives bowl officials leverage when negotiating a television contract, especially when those officials can guarantee the sponsor will buy a large chunk of commercial time during the game broadcast.

Front Row Marketing Services, a Philadelphia-based naming rights company, has analyzed the amount of exposure companies receive on bowl telecasts for the past two years. Front Row vice president of marketing Eric Smallwood said that last season, Tostitos - sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl and of last season's BCS national title game - received $98 million worth of exposure from on-field logos, stadium signage, Fox Sports graphics and on-air mentions. Though financial terms were not disclosed, Tostitos' parent company, Frito-Lay, is estimated to have paid from $11 million to $15 million for its sponsorship.

"Bowl games are very valuable," Smallwood said. "Aligning yourself with college athletics is an affinity play. You pull on the purse strings as well as the heartstrings."

That value rises if a company can get its bowl to shed its pesky traditional name and replace it with the company name.

"You're front and center," Smallwood said.

'Ahead Of Their Time'

That's exactly where Outback Steakhouse co-founder Chris Sullivan wanted his company to be when he met with McVay to discuss sponsoring the Hall of Fame Bowl. McVay, who had to pay the College Football Hall of Fame for the right to use its name, needed the financial stability Outback could help provide.

Now, the Tampa-based steakhouse chain gets mentioned every time the bowl gets mentioned, even by television and newspaper reporters who typically are loath to use a corporate sponsor's name.

That adds up to thousands of media mentions for a relatively small price. According to the IRS Form 990 the Tampa Bay Bowl Association filed in January, the bowl received $1.05 million in title sponsorship revenue in 2006, though Outback spends more on in-store promotion of the game throughout the year and on commercial spots during the broadcast.

"That was Chris Sullivan and those guys being ahead of their time," McVay said.

Others have followed suit. Two years ago, Atlanta-based Chick-fil-a paid extra to drop the "Peach" from the title of the game it sponsors. The game had been called the Peach Bowl since 1968.

"Our brand, our bowl, means a lot more to people than just a five-letter word for fruit," bowl president Gary Stokan said.

It also means brand recognition the expanding chain would have to spend more on to foster if not for the game. Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-a's chief marketing officer, handed out free sandwiches in advance of the opening of one of the chain's first Southern California stores in summer 2006. A man who never had seen a Chick-fil-a restaurant approached Robinson.

"I've watched your ballgame," Robinson remembered the man saying.

"You guys always have a good game."

Few games have enjoyed the stability of the Outback and Chick-fil-a bowls, though. Many have burned through sponsors as companies have restructured, gone under or - in the case of one-time Citrus Bowl sponsor OurHouse.com - gotten swallowed by a larger company (Amazon.com). While at the Independence Bowl, Krupica had to strike deals with pen company Sanford and insurance company Mainstay after Poulan pulled out in 1997. This season, the Independence is sponsored by PetroSun.

Reasons Vary

At first glance, some bowl title sponsors seem an awkward fit. It's unlikely the average consumer will watch California play Air Force in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and exclaim, "Martha, I think I'll buy that Bell chopper instead of the Sikorsky!"

Pete Derzis, the general manager of ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the Armed Forces Bowl and four others, explained that Bell is a major employer in Fort Worth, Texas, where the bowl is based. Derzis also called the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex especially "patriotic," making the sponsor and name a logical fit.

"Different companies," Derzis said, "have different reasons."

Here's one. In 2005, Bell received a $2.2 billion contract from the U.S. Army to build 368 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters. For a company reliant on military contracts, there is an obvious political benefit to sponsoring a bowl that gives free tickets to active-duty troops and half-price tickets to veterans.

And, as Krupica learned at the Independence Bowl, having a memorable sponsor - however humorous - usually means only good things for the company and for the bowl.

"There are probably still people," Krupica said, "who call the Independence the Weedwhacker Bowl."

What's In A Name?

An odd mix of companies has sponsored bowl games throughout the years. These are some of the most interesting.

Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.

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