After a very successful inaugural Popeyes Bahamas Bowl last year, television network ESPN is looking to build on that success by acquiring the football phenomenon.
The bowl game was played at 12 noon on December 14, 2014, at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in New Providence, and it featured the Western Kentucky University (WKU) Hilltoppers of Conference USA and the Central Michigan University (CMU) Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). In the end, the Hilltoppers won a thrilling game, 49-48.
ESPN was the only television broadcaster. However, the bowl brought enormous media attention to The Bahamas. It’s estimated that over 11.6 million households viewed the game - it was played on 401 television news segments, 1,587 articles were written and over 56,000 posts were made on social media.
Senior Vice President of Events at ESPN Pete Derzis said it’s for these reasons ESPN decided to acquire the event.
“We want to build on the success of last year. Last year, we served as the television partner and we expanded that to where we are. Our goal is to take the success of year one and grow it so we can lay a great foundation for the future,” he said.
“We have a great commitment to college football and for our business we own 13 bowl games and three college football classics. We work with the conferences in the United States so we are comfortable working with them, and when the opportunity presented itself, we felt like it was in the best interest to acquire the game.”
Derzis said ESPN officials are excited to return to The Bahamas. This year, the event is scheduled for the same date, December 24, at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
“You don’t know what to expect in year one, but the people were so warm and appreciative and frankly they worked so well to help us navigate what could have been a hurdle and they showed us the way. The team at tourism, the team at the stadium worked tirelessly to make this a great event,” he said.
Last year, Popeyes introduced a dynamic marketing strategy for the Bahamas Bowl. In thousands of its stores across the United States, Popeyes’ paraphernalia carried the Bahamas Bowl logo. Chief Marketing Officer for Popeyes Hector Munoz said the Bahamas Bowl was the biggest event the brand has ever participated in.
“The earnest that we were able to generate back in the states was unprecedented and we are hoping to replicate that. Even if we come close to replicating that we will be very, very happy,” he said. “We are going to do a lot of the same since it was so successful last year. We are going to launch a number of different types of promotions in our restaurants in September to really introduce the partnership again. We couldn’t be happier because ESPN is number one in sports. When you think sports, you think ESPN and so the partnership with them is going to take the game to the next level.”
Deputy Director General at the Ministry of Tourism Ellison “Tommy” Thompson said officials at the Ministry of Tourism are excited about the game.
“We at the Ministry of Tourism are very happy about seeing a second Popeyes Bahamas Bowl. I have no doubt that ESPN will take the event to higher heights,” he said.
It’s estimated that over 3,000 team, staff and fans traveled to New Providence for the game. Popeyes Bahamas Bowl officials spent over $1.2 million for the event, and they are looking to build on the success from the inaugural game.
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