CUNA Won't Dance At This Year's HulaBowl

HONOLULU - (11/09/05) -- CUNA said Tuesday it won't renew its$300,000-a-year sponsorship of college football's all-star game,known as the Hula Bowl, in 2006, despite the popularity of theprogram in 2005, its initial year. Credit union executivesparticipating in the nationally broadcast game decided to shift themoney and other resources from the college all-star game to reliefefforts for Hurricane Katrina, according to Gary Kohn, the CUNAexecutive who organized the credit unions' role in the big game."People thought it was better spent on the hurricane victims," Kohntold The Credit Union Journal, of the five-year $1.5 million HulaBowl sponsorship, renewable annually. Dozens of credit unionsaround the country had their logos embroidered on collegefootball's best players and celebrated their sponsorship by postingautographed all-star jerseys in their lobbies after last year'sgame. In additions, CUNA's tag line, 'America's Credit Union' wasbroadcast to millions of viewers during the annual college footballshowcase.