Post by smiteedawgwv on Nov 6, 2007 8:10:36 GMT -5
Do you remember when bowl games were just plainly named Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Peach etc... ? Do you realize how long corporate sponsorships have been associated with bowl games? While going through some clothes that I've had stuffed away for quite some time, I ran across my 1994 Sugar Bowl sweatshirt. Yes, I was at that game and stayed for every miserable second. It was a long 4 hour ride from New Orleans back to NW Florida after that defeat. Anyhow, back then it was not the Nokia Sugar Bowl, but the USF&G Sugar Bowl. I thought wow, sponsorships have been around for 13 years? That got me to wondering, so since I have nothing better to do I decided to do some research and here is what I found:
Sept. 26, 1985 – Sunkist Growers enters a five-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement with the Fiesta Bowl as title sponsor of what will be called the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Football Classic and Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade. It marks the first-ever title sponsorship of a college football bowl game and increases the Fiesta Bowl’s payout to more than $1 million per team.
Going by that, the first Sunkist Fiesta Bowl was played in 1986, making it 21 years that corporate sponsorship has been a part of bowl games. Doesn't seem like it's been that long does it?
Sept. 26, 1985 – Sunkist Growers enters a five-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement with the Fiesta Bowl as title sponsor of what will be called the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Football Classic and Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade. It marks the first-ever title sponsorship of a college football bowl game and increases the Fiesta Bowl’s payout to more than $1 million per team.
Going by that, the first Sunkist Fiesta Bowl was played in 1986, making it 21 years that corporate sponsorship has been a part of bowl games. Doesn't seem like it's been that long does it?
