Over 13,000 football fans showed up to the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium last Christmas Eve for the inaugural Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, which featured the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of Conference USA against the Central Michigan Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference. This year, ESPN Events, a subsidiary of ESPN, has acquired the event and one of its main goals for the second edition of the only bowl game to be played outside of the United States or Canada since 1937, is to attract more of the local community to the stadium on Thursday, December 24.
Senior vice president of ESPN Events Pete Derzis said that they plan to be more involved with the local community this year, including a marketing campaign geared specifically toward locals.
"We had a great session. We met as a team, all of the stakeholders, for two hours and came out with some incredibly positive suggestions," he said at a press conference announcing plans for this year's game on Wednesday. "I think what you are going to see now is all of those suggestions take focus in coming up with a basic marketing and outreach plan that includes everything, including educational seminars, to certain segments to gain a better understanding of what American football is.
"What you will see is a comprehensive targeting marketing plan and we are excited about building upon it. We want to build a long-term sustainable business for this game. One that gives back to this community, one that gives back to this community, one that provides a great experience for the student athletes coming to your country. One that highlights the culture of the Bahamian people in the telecast. These are incredibly important points that we will factor in to all the decisions we make around the development of the bowl game."
Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky added that he thinks the inaugural game laid a solid foundation for this year's game, and that it will continue to grow and possibly see its true potential by year three of the multi-year deal.
"Year one was about getting the game launched, executing the game, doing it technically well, but we knew it was going to be a challenge to market locally because there was no brand recognition," he said. "People just didn't know. We tried to do as many things as we could, but we learned so much from that. The venue is a manageable size, so I do believe, if not this next year, by the third year it's going to be a high demand event locally and people are going to rearrange their schedules on Christmas Eve to carve out three hours for the event."
A crowd of 13,667 in the national stadium and those watching on ESPN witnessed the Hilltoppers hold on for a 49-48 victory over the Chippewas in one of the most memorable bowl games of the 2014 season.
The Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, a NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) postseason bowl game, is committed to promoting the islands of The Bahamas and athletic opportunities for the youth of The Bahamas through college football, while providing its conference partners and their alumni, fans and sponsors a first-class bowl experience.
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