So Many Bowl Sponsors

Tonight the Oregon Ducks battle the Auburn Tigers in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game. The contest is the 35th and, as you might guess from the title, last game in a college football bowl schedule that began December 18th. So far I have seen parts of two bowls. Clearly I should have watched more games because my name recognition of the various bowl sponsors wouldn’t receive a passing grade.

By my count, 31 of the bowls have a sponsor who has paid enough cash to earn the right to attach its product, corporation, or organization name to the bowl name. Four bowls (New Mexico, Texas, Rose, and Gator) are apparently going it alone. Either they couldn’t find a sponsor or were charging a budget-breaking fee for the honor of linking a sponsor’s name with theirs. Or perhaps they chose to remain above the sponsorship fray because they get enough bucks from the TV rights alone.

Of the 31 sponsored bowls, 20 (65 percent) have sponsor names that ring a bell with me. One bowl that’s matched well with its sponsor is the Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman (how’s that for synergy?). I counted it in the “I’ve heard of them” group. Frito Lay slapped the Tostitos name (a product I sometimes buy) on two games this bowl season. That put a couple more bowls in the name-recognition column for me. But 11 bowls have sponsors I’m not familiar with.

So how dumb am I? I read the business pages (occasionally) and am presumably subject to the same advertising and media coverage other people are. Yet I haven’t heard of more than one-third of the companies, products, and organizations big enough to sponsor bowl games that are seen by a national television audience. The thought did cross my mind that the whole reason bowl-name sponsorships are desirable is to increase name recognition. But sponsoring a bowl is not like a largely unknown company buying a Super Bowl ad (remember Pets.com?) to make a big national splash. You have to be a major player to afford a bowl sponsorship, right?

Well, not with me. Below are a few of the sponsor names that leave me scratching my head. Maybe I will watch these bowls next year to learn more assuming the sponsors pick up the tab again. The complete list of bowls is available at si.com.

• uDrove Humanitarian
• R+L Carriers New Orleans
• Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg
• AdvoCare V100 Independence
• New Era Pinstripe
• BBVA Compass Bowl