Orlando’s 3rd bowl signs up AutoNation
Six years ago, it was nothing more than a dream. Seven months ago, it became a reality. And Thursday, the Cure Bowl took the next big step securing AutoNation — the nation’s largest retailer of new and used cars — as the title sponsor of the third college football bowl game hosted at Orlando’s Citrus Bowl.
“It’s a long time coming,” Alan Gooch, executive director of the Orlando Sports Foundation, said at an event Thursday at Mercedes-Benz of Orlando that featured city and game officials awash in pink with the Orlando Police Department’s new pink cruiser as part of the décor.
It was former UCF football coach Gooch who helped
spearhead the g r o u p ’s push to get the game off the ground from its early days in 2008 until the official announcement of the game back in April.
The game will be called the AutoNation Cure Bowl and will kick off on Dec. 19, 2015. The contest features a matchup between teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
Gooch said the deal has been in the works for some time, but they chose to wait until October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to make it official.
Marc Cannon, senior vice president of corporate communications for AutoNation, said the company would be involved in all the game facets from raising awareness to fundraising.