Phoenix’s Cactus Bowl gets new title sponsor
Finding a title sponsor for a bowl game during a pandemic isn’t easy.
But the Fiesta Bowl organization made it look that way, reaching an agreement with Guaranteed Rate to sponsor the Cactus Bowl — as it is called when there is no title sponsor — beginning this year.
Terms of the deal were not announced Thursday, but both sides are hinting at more than a one-year agreement.
The 31-year-old bowl has had a number of previous sponsors and most recently was known as the Cheez-It Bowl in 2018 and 2019. That sponsorship ended in May when Cheez-It instead became sponsor of the previously named Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
That left Fiesta officials, who manage both Phoenix metro area bowl games, in search of a new title sponsor when at the time they didn’t know for sure if there would be a college football fall season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Even when the season did begin, it was without the Big Ten, which is returning to the bowl for the first time since 2013 (replacing the Pac-12) under a six-year contract to play a Big 12 opponent.
Now, in the same week that the Big Ten is returning to the field, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl will await one of its 14 teams on a December date still to be announced. Whether fans will be allowed to attend the game or the Jan. 2 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl remains undecided.
“The Big Ten-Big 12 is a relatively unique match-up,” said Steve Moffat, Guaranteed Rate chief marketing officer. “Both of those conferences have a tremendous following and representation in the heartland of the U.S. To be a part of that was really compelling. Also the Fiesta Bowl committee runs a topnotch operation so we have a lot of confidence the game will be executed well.”
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl will continue to be played at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix, a new destination for the Big Ten. From 2006-13, when the Big Ten previously participated in what was then called the Insight or Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, the game was played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.
Fiesta Bowl executive director Mike Nealy said Guaranteed Rate, among the top five U.S. retail mortgage lenders, is in “pretty strong growth mode and bullish on the bowl business. They were looking to do some things, we had an opening and were looking so it’s a great marriage. I liken it to a relationship when you find the right one.”
Guaranteed Rate, headquartered in Chicago, signed a 13-year naming rights agreement for the White Sox stadium in 2016. Since then, Moffat said, “We’ve taken on live sports and sports properties sponsorships in a big way.”
The company now is involved in some way with Major League Baseball, NHL, World Team Tennis, UFC, NASCAR, IndyCar Series, LPGA, drag racing, motocross, bass fishing, bowling, cornhole and now college football.
“We see the value in those media impressions,” said Moffat, a track athlete in college at Michigan and involved in marketing Gatorade earlier in his professional career. “People are consuming content in different ways. Sports is one of the last examples of something that has to be watched live. All of that has gone into our motivation.”
Moffat also said Arizona and specifically metro Phoenix is a “strong market for us” and part of the reason for taking on the title sponsorship. “This is the beginning of our relationship. We’re going into the 2020 Guaranteed Rate Bowl with an optimistic and open mind about what the future holds.”
Said Nealy: “It’s a good match. Don’t be shocked to see us working together for a long time.”