Ranking All 35 Bowl Games Based on Primary Sponsorship

Some college football fans complain that there are too many bowl games, citing the fact that a handful of 6-6 teams (and in rare cases 6-7 teams) are “rewarded” for a good season with a bowl game no one cares about.

But have those fans ever actually looked at some of the sponsors for the bowls? If they did, they might have yet another reason to add to their list for why the bowl season should be shortened.

Granted, some sponsors of bowl games are actually pretty cool and make sense. Others, well...might have been picked out of a hat.

The following list ranks every bowl game by its primary sponsor. Among other things, the most important factor in determining the rankings was how well the sponsor fits within the culture of college football.

Note that the list is in descending order in terms of “goodness of fit” in college football.

35. TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl

Who’s playing: Mississippi State vs. Northwestern

When: January 1

You know you’re in the wrong sport when the best thing you can do to promote your company is drive a NASCAR car onto the field during the coin toss.

34. Valero Alamo Bowl

Who’s playing: Texas vs. Oregon State

When: December 29

San Antonio is a city full of life, but when you find out that Valero is simply a petroleum company, it is sort of disappointing. Then again, this is a bowl game in Texas, so it makes sense that oil would be the main sponsor of at least one of the bowl games in The Lone Star State.

33. AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Who’s playing: Iowa State vs. Tulsa

When: December 31

AutoZone has done a nice job of hanging onto this bowl game, being the primary sponsor since 2004. This makes sense, since the auto parts retailer is based in Memphis.

The fact that the bowl is in Memphis doesn’t make sense, however. The Liberty Bowl was originally created by former Villanova athletic director Bud Dudley and played in Philadelphia, hence the name and cracked bell logo.

32. Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

Who’s playing: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech

When: December 28

You have to feel a little bit bad for Meineke Car Care, as the company is simply looking for a home in college football’s postseason. The automotive repair chain used to sponsor a bowl game in Charlotte where it is headquartered, then took over naming rights for the sponsor-less Texas Bowl in 2011.

31. MAACO Bowl Las Vegas

Who’s playing: Washington vs. Boise State

When: December 22

This author is in favor of the old Las Vegas Bowl sponsor, Pioneer PureVision. It makes sense for a company that makes plasma screen TVs to sponsor a football game, but the bowl season almost seems as oversaturated with auto body and collision center sponsors as it does with bowls themselves.

30. San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

Who’s playing: BYU vs. San Diego State

When: December 20

The good thing about this bowl sponsor is that if you’re smart enough to remember it correctly, your friends will trust you when you say you’re a bowl expert. The bad thing about it is that it’s a mouthful to say.

29. BBVA Compass Bowl

Who’s playing: Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi

When: January 5

People aren’t normally all that interested in a non-BCS bowl played after January 1 unless it’s the Cotton Bowl, and even if they are watching, they’re channel surfing.

So chances are they’ll miss the commercial letting them know that BBVA Compass is a financial holding company and not the makers of the tool that can help you find your way out of the wilderness.

28. Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Who’s playing: North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt

When: December 31

There isn’t really anything special about this sponsor, but they aren't at the absolute bottom of the rankings for three reasons: the company is based in the city the game is played (Nashville), fans aren’t left wondering what the company actually does and Vanderbilt’s head coach is named James Franklin.

27. Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl

Who’s playing: Baylor vs. UCLA

When: December 27

Bridgepoint Education is a testament to why the University of Phoenix online should do more than be the main sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl's stadium.

Everyone can get on board with education, even if it means replacing a sponsor that put a whale at midfield (Pacific Life).

26. Gildan New Mexico Bowl

Who’s playing: Nevada vs. Arizona

When: December 15

Actually a cool company, Gildan is the leading activewear brand in the screen print market in the United States and Canada.

There isn’t anything clever to say about the company because it is arguably the first on the list to actually fit as a sponsor for an athletic contest.

25. Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman

Who’s playing: San Jose State vs. Bowling Green

When: December 27

For a bowl known as the Military Bowl, it makes sense that the world’s largest builder of navy vessels is the main sponsor.

In addition, the bowl being associated with our armed servicemen and women resulted in over $100,000 being donated to the United Service Organization (USO) in 2010.

24. R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Who’s playing: East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

When: December 22

Since 2006, the transportation services company based in Wilmington, Ohio has sponsored one of this author’s favorite bowl games.

Had the company stuck with its old commercials featuring the “ship-it” frogs (which bring back memories of Frank and Louie in the swamp), this sponsor would have been placed higher on the list.

23. Hyundai Sun Bowl

Who’s playing: USC vs. Georgia Tech

When: December 31

Sure, car companies sometimes create memorable ad spots, and it isn’t a stretch to say that most people can recall at least one time they’ve seen a Hyundai commercial. But there isn’t anything special about it, and it doesn’t have much relevance to college football.

22. Belk Bowl

Who’s playing: Cincinnati vs. Duke

When: December 27

Two of the department store chain’s four flagship stores are located in North Carolina, so from a geographic standpoint this sponsorship makes sense.

Players probably aren’t complaining either, as one of their bowl gifts is a shopping spree in the Charlotte area store.

21. Beef 'O’Brady’s Bowl

Who’s playing: Ball State vs. Central Florida

When: December 21

Along with Famous Idaho Potato’s, this is probably one of the funniest sponsors to mention in conversation. Many people may think the company is a competitor to Campbell’s Chunky Soup, but that is not the case.

Established in Florida, Beef 'O’Brady’s is a sports pub restaurant franchise, which makes it a perfect sponsor for the bowl game located in St. Petersburg.

20. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Who’s playing: Toledo vs. Utah State

When: December 15

Fun fact: The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is the only bowl game sponsored by a commission.

The Idaho Potato Commission is a self-governing agency in Idaho, responsible for promoting the Idaho potato through various marketing initiatives.

It seems too simple to be true, but for that, it comes in at No. 20 on the list.

19 & 18. Discover Orange Bowl and BCS National Title Game

Who’s playing: Northern Illinois vs. Florida State (Orange Bowl) and Notre Dame vs. Alabama (BCS National Title Game)

When: January 1 (Orange) and January 7 (BCS National Title Game)

Were Discover sponsoring a bowl such as the New Mexico Bowl, it may not have made much sense. But it’s very possible that fans are using their Discover Card to pay for tickets to one of these games, as tickets are far too expensive to pay with cash (lowest price currently on StubHub is $1,265 per ticket for standing room only).

17. Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio

Who’s playing: Wisconsin vs. Stanford

When: January 1

In a perfect world, the Rose Bowl would be pure enough to operate without a sponsor. But since that is essentially out of the question, Vizio isn’t a bad choice.

The consumer electronics producer is based out of Irvine, California and produces many of the TVs that fans will watch this game on.

16. Sheraton Hawaii Bowl

Who’s playing: Fresno State vs. SMU

When: December 24

Sheraton Hotels and Suites is a perfect sponsor for a bowl game on the laid-back island of Oahu, and the bowl logo even pays homage to the bowl’s old name (the Pineapple Bowl).

Frankly, when this author thinks Hawaii Bowl, he thinks Sheraton. So the company is doing a fine job in that respect.

15. GoDaddy.com Bowl

Who’s playing: Kent State vs. Arkansas State

When: January 6

Some readers may be wondering why this domain registrar and web-hosting company isn’t higher on the list, with a solid track record of steamy ad spots that make viewers check the GoDaddy website for content “too hot for TV.”

Honestly, it’s because the novelty of that wore off years ago. The only thing this sponsor has going for it now is the fact that Danica Patrick might give the bowl MVP a kiss.

14. AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl

Who’s playing: Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe

When: December 28

A nutrition and sports performance product with the slogan “We Build Champions” is definitely in the right industry to be sponsoring a bowl game. Sure, unless you use AdvoCare products you may have to look up what it actually is, but the company is at least targeting the right market.

13. Allstate Sugar Bowl

Who’s playing: Louisville vs. Florida

When: January 2

From a car flag to a 300-pound streaker, Allstate’s Mayhem commercials are designed with the college football fan in mind. In addition to that, they’re actually really funny.

Target marketing plus humor equals a pretty high ranking on this list.

12. Heart of Dallas Bowl presented by PlainsCapital Bank

Who’s playing: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

When: January 1

Before you actually take a look at the bowl logo, it isn’t even clear that the bowl has a primary sponsor. This author has yet to hear anyone include the “presented by PlainsCapital Bank” when talking about this bowl. This is a complete shift from last year, when this bowl game was named the TicketCity Bowl

Honestly, more bowl game sponsors should be presented this way. It isn’t great bang for your buck, but for the sake of this list, the less intrusive the better.

11. AT&T Cotton Bowl

Who’s playing: Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma

When: January 4

Hello!

The commercial that depicts how quickly something can go viral with the largest 4G network ended up going viral. Plus, it’s kind of cool that Oklahoma will be playing in this game. Maybe Caleb will be there…

Just kidding.

10. Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl

Who’s playing: Rice vs. Air Force

When: December 29

Bell Helicopter makes helicopter and tiltrotor products for the military, and thus it’s not surprising that Air Force is guaranteed a spot in this bowl game each year provided it wins six games.

Helicopters are one of the coolest military vehicles, and the bowl takes significant measures to honor our armed forces before the game, all factors that contribute to Bell Helicopter’s top 10 spot.

9. Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl

Who’s playing: Navy vs. Arizona State

When: December 29

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, in a partnership with Macy’s and KGO, donate one meal to three local San Francisco hunger organizations for each game ticket sold as part of Kraft’s effort to advance the Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign.

In addition, players from both teams visit one of those hunger organizations in the week leading up to the bowl.

Doing good for the community lands Kraft at No. 9.

8. Capital One Bowl

Who’s playing: Georgia vs. Nebraska

When: January 1

Capital One may only be a credit card company, but once again, consistently humorous commercials pay dividends on this list.

Plus, the company that sponsors the annual Mascot Challenge is bound to find a spot in the top 10.

7. Outback Bowl

Who’s playing: South Carolina vs. Michigan

When: January 1

Something that readers will find out in the coming slide is that restaurants rank highly for the purposes of this list.

Outback probably isn’t a prime destination during the game, but it’s not a bad option for afterwards.

6. Chick-fil-A Bowl

Who’s playing: LSU vs. Clemson

When: December 31

Chick-fil-A has been a college football regular for quite some time now. While the company’s commercials are hit and miss with regards to humor, they get the benefit of the doubt for coming back with something new every season.

The restaurant chain also has the Georgia Dome on lockdown, sponsoring both the bowl game and the annual College Football kickoff game held in the stadium. Not surprising considering the company is based in Georgia.

5. Russell Athletic Bowl

Who’s playing: Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech

When: December 28

Props to Russell Athletic for two reasons. First, an athletic apparel company makes total sense sponsoring a bowl game. Second, it is clearly trying to make further headway into college football, already sponsoring a handful of college football teams including Georgia Tech and Ohio University.

4. New Era Pinstripe Bowl

Who’s playing: West Virginia vs. Syracuse

When: December 29

This author must confess a love for New Era Authentic MLB On-Field Caps that borders on obsession.

That being said, in addition to a trip to New York players also probably enjoy some of the gifts from the bowl, which includes New Era hats, among other things.

Consider this author jealous.

3. Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

Who’s playing: Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan

When: December 26

With 35 bowls to watch, it would cost a lot of money to order pizza for every single one. That is, unless you order Little Caesars $5 Hot n’ Ready pizza.

Like the Subway $5 footlong sub, this is bound to get sports fans who like to have people over to watch games happy. The only downside to Little Caesars sponsoring the game is that the pizza is not sold inside Ford Field.

2. Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl

Who’s playing: TCU vs. Michigan State

When: December 29

Is anyone else surprised that BW3’s didn’t sponsor a bowl game before this season?

This author is. And this author will also be going to B-dubs to watch the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. The sports bar franchise was extremely close to taking the crown for this list. But the winner goes to…

1. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

Who’s playing: Oregon vs. Kansas State

When: January 3

Not everyone can afford to go to Hawaii and stay in a luxury hotel. Not everyone can use their double miles to vacation in Florida during the holidays. Not even everyone can afford to go out to a sports bar more than once in a great while.

But almost every college football fan can afford to throw down five dollars for chips and dip. The classic combination will work for any game if all else fails, and the company’s commercials have gotten pretty funny, too.

So, congratulations Tostitos. The Fiesta Bowl is the best bowl game based on its primary sponsor.