The Wacky Sponsors of Modern Bowl Games That I Bet You Have Never Heard Of
You already know about the Cheez-It, Pop Tarts, and Buffalo Wild Wings bowls. But what about the other ones?
Happy Holidays, everybody!
Since I do not have a whole lot to do today, I have decided to dive into the college football history books and write something about bowl games and their various sponsors. I do not want to write an introduction that probably makes no sense to you, so I won’t do that. Instead, I am going to get straight to my list. Let’s begin.
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF ANY OF THESE COMPANIES. IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEND A 17 YEAR OLD WRITER FREE BOWL MERCH OR ITEMS AFTER READING THIS, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT zacharyjkahn@icloud.com
1. The Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl
From 1990-1997, Poulan/Weed Eater sponsored the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana (the best place to play a bowl game, obviously). A weed eater is a garden power tool that cuts grass and small weeds without giving the user an increased cancer risk.
The 1990 Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl ended in a 34-34 tie between the Maryland Terrapins and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs after the bowl eligible Baylor Bears declined their invitation and did not play in a bowl that year.
How fitting.
2. The PetroSun Independence Bowl
In 2006, after two years of not having a sponsor and rejecting Deja Vu Showgirls Clubs as the main sponsor of the bowl, the Independence Bowl reached a deal with a company claiming to hold helium reserves that were ran by a former Dallas Cowboys player.
This was a bad idea.
After two years of sponsoring the best bowl in college football (Nick Saban won his first bowl game at the PetroSun Independence Bowl), the Independence Bowl sued PetroSun for defaulting on payments and not paying Nick Saban’s team. The company has pretty much vanished since losing its sponsorship in 2008, but it does somehow still exist. PetroSun is currently selling for 0.0257 cents on OKTMS markets right now if anyone is interested.
3. The AdvoCare V100 (Independence) Bowl
Just read this excerpt from the FTC:
“The FTC calls it a pyramid scheme and says AdvoCare swindled hundreds of thousands of consumers.
According to the FTC, people paid AdvoCare thousands of dollars to become “distributors,” buy inventory, and become eligible for cash bonuses and other rewards. But, the FTC says, AdvoCare rewarded distributors not for selling product but for recruiting other distributors to spend large sums of money pursuing the business opportunity. That push to recruit is a classic sign of a pyramid scheme.
The complaint alleges that 72 percent of AdvoCare’s distributors lost money or earned nothing from the company and 18 percent earned between a penny and $250 a year. When these distributors’ hefty costs are added, nearly all of them lost money.”
AdvoCare sponsored the Independence Bowl from 2009-2013.
The I-Bowl clearly did not learn from its last mistake.
Nice one, Independence Bowl!
4. The Duck Commander Independence Bowl
In 2014, the Independence Bowl was sponsored by Duck Commander, a company that makes duck-hunting equipment, as well as deer and turkey hunting merchandise. The founders of Duck Commander, the Robertson family, starred on the A&E Network show DuckDynasty, a reality TV show about their lives. The sponsorship ended after only one year into a five year deal, as the company has ducked from the college football world ever since.
Pretty strange, right?
5. The Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl
In 2010, the parent company of Ashford University, a for-profit mostly online college based in Arizona and California with a campus in Iowa, sponsored San Diego’s very own Holiday Bowl. They also ran University of the Rockies. Check out this article for more information about Bridgepoint.
According to Wikipedia, “Bridgepoint Education faced and settled several lawsuits, including state-level lawsuits and federal investigations.[45] It has been investigated in New York, North Carolina, California, and Massachusetts. A U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General probe is ongoing.”
Bridgepoint Education was a company that scams vulnerable individuals through cash for online diploma scheme that ends up leaving these individuals in massive debt WITHOUT a degree.
And they sponsored a bowl game in 2010!
6. The Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl
Did you know that the nearly $100,000 coin sponsored the St. Petersburg Bowl in 2014?
If you didn’t, now you do!
7. The Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl
The Irish-themed fast casual pub hosted a bowl game in St. Petersburg from 2010-2013. Unsurprisingly, Blake Bortles was the 2012 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl MVP. The games were hosted at Tropicana Field. Who doesn’t love orange juice and burgers?
8. The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone
From 2003 all the way up until 2007, an entertainment company running a hotel chain hosted a bowl in Nashville that was presented by the world’s largest tire and rubber company.
Two coaches coached in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl Presented By Bridgestone for consecutive years: Rich Brooks (Kentucky), and Glen Mason (Minnesota).
They must be tired after all that coaching!
9. The Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl
In 2018, a village in Illinois sponsored a bowl game. That’s no typo, yes, a village sponsored a bowl game. Elk Grove, Illinois, is home to the largest contiguous industrial park in the United States. According to their website: “Elk Grove Village is where great makers come together to make great things. Elk Grove is home to the largest industrial park in the United States with over 62,000,000 square feet of inventory, 5,600+ businesses, 22 data centers, and over 400 manufacturers who specialize in plastic, metal, food, tech and more.” The bowl actually caught the attention of Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, an industry-leading travel stop network, who decided to build a store there recently.
Overall, the bowl game was a massive success for the village that is 1318 miles from Nassau.
10. The BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl
In 2016, the Fiesta Bowl was presented by BattleFrog, a series of obstacle course races designed by NAVY seals that took place across the country.
This is a GREAT article that explains BattleFrog in more detail.
Here are some other bowls with odd sponsors: The Osram Sylvania Alamo Bowl (a lighting company), The MPC Computers Bowl (now a bankrupt company), The AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl (yes, they sponsored another one), The PUBG New Mexico Bowl (yes, the video game!), The California Raisin Bowl, The Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, The Culligan Holiday Bowl (a water filtration company), and the EV1.net Houston Bowl (I have no idea what that website is).
At this rate, I think we will have a bowl game sponsored by Tinder, Ozempic, The “If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma you may to be entitled to financial compensation” law firm, Spirit Airlines, Temu, or Liberty Mutual sometime soon.
If you have any constructive feedback or comments, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day.
-Zach
This was awesome. Love the tidbits and and the wry humor. Looking forward to reading more
The IBM OS/2 Fiesta Bowl may not have been the most memorable bowl, but it was certainly the most forgettable. Incidentally, my company used that operating system until 1998 when hardly anybody else was, yet we got no free swag.