SAN DIEGO - The second annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 19 will pit TCU (Texas Christian University) versus NIU (Northern Illinois University) on the football field, but the most important initials associated with the game will be ROI.
According to Rod Calvao, San Diego County CU's CEO, the credit union's title sponsorship of a college bowl game has brought increased awareness both to the CU and to the bowl's beneficiary, the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
"We definitely got a big boost in name recognition from last year's game," Calvao told The Credit Union Journal. "We received many e-mails and letters from our SEGs and our vendors saying they had been to the bowl game, or seen it on television. It was well-received by the community. Visibility means people come into our branches to see what we are all about, and more people donate to Make-A-Wish. It is a win-win."
Second Consecutive Year
For the second consecutive year, the credit union will donate $1 per ticket sold to Make-A-Wish. The inaugural SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl, which saw Navy defeat Colorado State on Dec. 22, 2005, sold approximately 46,000 tickets, resulting in the CU writing a check to the foundation in the amount of $46,000. Calvao said sales for the TCU-NIU battle were ahead of last year's pace one week prior to kickoff. One possible reason is a local professional football connection: the top two running backs for the NFL's San Diego Chargers, LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner, attended Texas Christian and Northern Illinois, respectively.
"This year, we did a much better job getting the message out through different media that the whole goal of the bowl game is to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation," he said. "There has been a lot of tweaking and a lot of improvement. We hope to set a new record with ticket sales, but you never know how that last week is going to go and how the weather is going to be."
The Make-A-Wish Foundation recently named San Diego County CU its "Wishmaker of the Year" for its efforts in raising funds and increasing visibility of the charity, which grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions.
On The U.S.S. Midway
One of the events leading up to the bowl game will be a luncheon on the U.S.S. Midway-a retired aircraft carrier that serves as a floating museum near downtown.
Last year's luncheon featured former Notre Dame walk-on Rudy Ruettiger, whose college football experience was the subject of the 1993 movie "Rudy."
This year's event was sold out in advance, thanks to the presence of legendary football coach Lou Holtz.
The game will be televised live nationally on ESPN2 for the second straight year. One "tweak" from 2005 is kickoff has been moved up three hours to 5 p.m. PST, which Calvao said should help increase ratings on the East Coast.
The Poinsettia Bowl is operated by the same committee that organizes the Holiday Bowl, a local institution for nearly 30 years.
The name of the new bowl comes from the popularity of the Paul Ecke Ranch in nearby Encinitas, which produces 70% of the flowering poinsettias in the United States. The poinsettia has been the official symbol of the Holiday Bowl since its beginning.(c) 2006
