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Raise your hand if you also had to Google exactly what “BattleFrog” is. Or if the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl was an actual thing and not some terrible internet hoax. With all due respect to the restaurant chain, I think we can all agree that we’re better off with a bowl game no longer named after Beef O’Brady’s.
Keeping track of the ever-changing bowl sponsors, amidst an increasing amount of postseason games, can be difficult.
Here a breakdown of the 41 bowls and some of their oft-colorful sponsors.
FOOD BOWLS
The most-obvious, yet most-delicious, category has to be bowl games named after foods (Sugar, Orange) or food sponsors.
- Allstate Sugar Bowl
- Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl
- Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
- Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
- Foster Farms (Poultry) Bowl
- Outback Bowl
- Capital One Orange Bowl
- Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl
- Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl
BOWLS NAMED AFTER CITIES
If your city has no nameable cuisine, the next logical choice is to name the bowl after your city. What better way for a city and sponsor to brand itself than with an annual bowl game?
- Birmingham Bowl
- Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
- Miami Bowl
- Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl
- R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
- Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
- St. Petersburg Bowl
- Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl
APPAREL BOWLS
You have to look good on the field. And everyone loves new gear. These games might get ugly, but at least the sponsors will look spiffy.
- Belk Bowl
- Gildan Bowl
- Marmot Boca Raton Bowl
- New Era Pinstripe Bowl
- Russell Athletic Bowl
AIR, SPACE AND ARMED FORCES BOWLS
Teams will take to air this bowl season, while others will look to build a strong defensive front. Here’s a look at a few of the bowls sponsored by entities that want to see you aim high and flying right.
- Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl
- Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
- Northrop Grumman Military Bowl
FIDUCIARY BOWLS
College Football’s conferences pulled in more than $400 million in bowl payouts in 2014. So it make sense that many sponsors have ties to financial institutions and large insurance companies. Here’s a look at the bowls that make bank.
- Allstate Sugar Bowl
- Capital One Orange Bowl
- Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
- National Funding Holiday Bowl
- Northwestern Mutual Rose Bowl
- Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl
- San Diego County CU Poinsettia Bowl
- TaxSlayer Bowl
MEDIA BOWLS
All of the bowls will be watched, listened to, and commented on — oh how they’ll be commented on — across a wide variety of media mediums. A look at a few multimedia-named bowls.
- GoDaddy Bowl
- Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
AUTO BOWLS
Of all the bowls, the most are named after automobiles or automobile services and parts — edging financially-named bowls by a 9-8 tally. If it rolls, it bowls (especially the Goodyear Bowl). Here’s a look at the bowls affiliated with cars.
- AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
- AutoNation Cure Bowl
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl
- Goodyear Cotton Bowl
- Hyundai Sun Bowl
- Quick Lane Bowl
- R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
- Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
- Valero Alamo Bowl
HOTEL BOWLS
We have our food, city and finances to make our bowl trip happen, next we need a place to stay. Here’s a look at a few bowls whose players should be well-rested for their games.
- Motel 6 Cactus Bowl
- Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
ACTIVE LIVING BOWLS
Once the bowl season is over, we’re finally free to venture off our couches and back outside. A few bowl sponsors want to help us (re)capture the great outdoors…leisurely and competitively.
- BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl*
- Camping World Independence Bowl
*Still wondering what BattleFrog is? The Fiesta Bowl named BattleFrog as its title sponsor for the 45th installment of the Arizona-based New Year’s Six game. BattleFrog is an outside fitness and obstacle race event that began as an intercollegiate contest and will air its second season on ESPN next summer. It replaces Vizio, who sponsored last year’s game, once Tostito’s relinquished the bowl’s naming rights after 19 years on the marquee.
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.
