In addition to hosting one of the most highly anticipated bowl games of the collegiate football season, the organizers of the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl are doing their part to ensure the sport of American football continues to grow in The Bahamas, with a donation of equipment to various development leagues across the country. The bowl organizers will partner with the Bahamas American Football Federation (BAFF) to set up the leagues, which are expected to be formed sometime within the next few weeks.
"All of the equipment has already been ordered and is sitting on the dock, so we expect that everything will be over very soon," said BAFF President Lalisa Anthony. "The Family Islands have already been selected and the program will feature two teams on the Berry Islands, Abaco and Exuma and then five teams in Grand Bahama and here in New Providence."
President of the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl Britton Banowsky said the launch of the Bahamas Bowl Youth Football League is almost just as exciting to him and his staff as the upcoming game itself.
"We want to start with 10 year olds on four different islands, so it's a pretty ambitious goal," he said. "It is our hope that we start with that this fall and end up with a championship game on the week of the bowl game."
In addition to the equipment, organizers of the prestigious bowl game will make donations to several charities around the island.
Last year, Popeyes Bahamas Bowl donated $56,000 to the Ranfurly Homes for Children to fund 10 scholarships. Banowsky said they're looking to pump even more funding into charities this year.
Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Events, added his team fully supports this year's game and its surrounding activities and expects an even greater turnout for the Christmas Eve showdown that caught the attention of football fans around the world last year.
"It takes everyone pulling together with a common goal to host this event. We look forward to building it step by step every year, adding new elements, hopefully satisfying our stakeholders, the people that have come together to work so hard in pulling this off, and the public who come to the stadium and who watch on television and expect a quality football game," he said.
Last year's game reached nearly 12 million viewers in the United States and saw over 13,000 attendees locally.
The 2014 game featured Western Kentucky of Conference USA against Central Michigan of the MAC in the first Football Bowl Subdivision-level bowl game outside the United States or Canada since 1937. The Hilltoppers held on for a 49-48 victory over the Chippewas in one of the most memorable bowl games of the 2014 season.
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