It's snowing outside, family members have just polished off their Butterball turkey Christmas dinner and someone in the house flips on ESPN to watch the inaugural ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl at sun-drenched Aloha Stadium.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KIP AOKI / KAOKI@STARBULLETIN.COMThere promises to be something for
It wants to be your Butterball
everybody in the ConAgra Foods
Hawaii Bowl on Christmas DayBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comMultiply this scenario by millions and everyone involved in the Dec. 25 football game goes home a winner.
University of Hawaii and Tulane University win due to their teams' national television exposure and the resulting potential to lure recruits.
ESPN Regional Television, the owner and operator of the bowl and the producer for parent company ESPN, generates high ratings due to the contest being the only one of 28 bowl games on during that time slot.
ConAgra, which is on a promotional blitz to get recognized as the name behind its famous product brands, benefits from being mentioned throughout the 3 1/2-hour telecast.
And the state of Hawaii attracts attention as a desired vacation and business convention destination.
"This is a great opportunity for the UH football team," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl. "The game will be televised in prime time nationally (8 p.m. on the East Coast) so basically people will have finished their Christmas dinner and this will be the only bowl game on that evening. People can either watch the 14th rerun of 'It's a Wonderful Life' or a live sporting event."
The ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl, which will start here at 3 p.m., actually is part of an ESPN football doubleheader, with the Sega Sports Las Vegas Bowl featuring UCLA and New Mexico preceding it at 11:30 a.m. Pete Derzis, senior vice president of ESPN Regional Television, said the bowl game will be shown live locally even if it isn't sold out. Tickets are $40, $25 and $15.
Hawaii's bowl game, however, won't be the only sporting event on in its time slot. It figures to get tough competition from last season's NBA Western Conference finalists, the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers, whose game tips off at 3:30 p.m. Hawaii time on ABC.
David Preece, vice president for North America of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, said tourism should get a boost from the national television exposure (ESPN is available in 87 million households) even though the state economy won't benefit from an influx of fans to the extent it did from the 8,000 who arrived here for the Nov. 30 Hawaii football game against Alabama.
"There's no question that televised events generate important exposure for the destination," Preece said, "Especially during the winter time when it's obviously very cold in many parts of the country."
Other benefits that televised sporting events bring to the local economy, Preece said, typically are the revenues generated from visiting fans coming into the state, and marketing opportunities for business meetings and leisure travel.
"The greatest benefit (of any sports event in Hawaii) typically is the value of the TV broadcasts, because you're reaching millions of people instead of the few thousands (through other forms of marketing)," Preece said. "The premise is when you're reaching millions of people, you have the ability to promote the destination in a positive light and to motivate them to take some action to come visit."
Bowl games have become such big money for college football that Division I-A football is the only NCAA team sport at any level without a playoff system to determine its champion. Rather, most bowl game matchups are determined by conference tie-ins or, as is the case with the Bowl Championship Series, by computerized ranking. The top eight teams, according to the computer, participate in the four BCS bowls, with the top two computer-ranked teams (which this year are unbeatens Miami and Ohio State) playing for the championship. This year's BCS participants will rake in between $12 million and $14.5 million apiece for their respective conferences. The minimum payout in bowl games, including the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl, is $750,000 per team.
The NCAA revenue distribution formula dictates that 75 percent of a bowl's gross revenues go to the two participating conferences, with the remaining 25 percent going to the bowl's owner. So if the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl grosses, let's say, $2 million, then the Western Athletic Conference, represented by Hawaii; and Conference USA, represented by Tulane, each will receive $750,000. ESPN would pocket $250,000 for its share. Higher revenues mean greater payouts for everyone involved.
Don't be fooled, though, by the large payouts. A USA Today survey of NCAA financial filings after the 1999 bowl season showed that nearly half of the bowl participants that year lost money. Oregon State, which played Hawaii in the Oahu Bowl that year, had just under $1.1 million in expenses, according to the USA Today story. Hawaii, on the other hand, made a profit of $215,000 from that game, a UH spokeswoman said last week, because Hawaii didn't have to fly and it didn't have to share revenues with its conference rivals as it does now under a revenue-sharing agreement. Just like the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl, the minimum payout per team then was $750,000.
This year's game figures to bring a similar type of scenario except that Hawaii's financial take will be a lot smaller -- if it makes anything at all.
The WAC will pay Hawaii a flat $350,000 for expenses, plus reimburse it for ground transportation. Hawaii gets to keep any amount it saves under $350,000 and is responsible for ponying up any money it spends over that amount. Costs can accelerate when band members, cheerleaders and support staff are added into the mix.
The remaining $400,000 or so from the $750,000 payout will be distributed evenly among the 10 conference schools, but that doesn't necessarily mean Hawaii will get a share of $40,000. The WAC may need to siphon off some of the money it receives from the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl to meet financial obligations it has in the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, and the Silicon Valley Football Classic in San Jose, Calif. WAC champion Boise State will be playing in the Humanitarian Bowl and WAC member Fresno State will compete in the Silicon Valley Classic.
"Being in a bowl game is more than reaping the financial benefits," said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson, citing the national TV exposure and the effect on recruiting.
While Hawaii stands a chance to carve out a profit by saving some money from the $350,000 it receives for expenses, Tulane already is destined to lose money, according to Dennis Helsel, associate commissioner of Conference USA.
Although Hessel wouldn't reveal what Tulane is receiving for expenses, he did say it was in the ballpark of the $350,000 that Hawaii is getting. However, he said the New Orleans school's expenses will exceed what it receives from Conference USA by between $100,000 and $200,000 due to additional personnel such as cheerleaders, band and staff that the school is bringing to the game.
Overall, Helsel said that Conference USA's total expenses probably will amount to about $1 million, excluding the $100,000 to $200,000 in additional costs that Tulane is incurring on its own. Conference USA is contractually required to purchase 10,000 tickets at what would be a cost of $400,000 and will have roughly about $600,000 in other expenses, including air travel.
ESPN, eager for the Christmas Day time slot due to its potential for a large viewing audience, signed a four-year deal earlier this year with the WAC and Conference USA, with Hawaii being guaranteed a berth for the first two years as long as it is bowl eligible. Bowl eligibility requires either a winning record, or a .500 record in the case of a 12-game season, against Division I-A or, in some cases, I-AA opponents. After the first two years, there will be consultation between the WAC, Hawaii and ESPN regarding Hawaii's involvement in the game if the Warriors are bowl eligible.
Derzis acknowledges that ESPN is taking a financial risk given that Hawaii's last Christmas Day bowl game appearance at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium in 1999 attracted just more than 40,000 fans.
"Obviously, there's a risk in any business venture and we consider this a startup business and have tried to manage the risk," Derzis said. "By having the kickoff at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I think that provides many of the Hawaii football fans a great day of activity where they can enjoy the holiday in the morning with their families and enjoy the holiday later in the afternoon with fans and friends at Aloha Stadium.
"Obviously, June Jones and his team have done their part by being in the event. Our ultimate goal is to develop an event that can be a quality and competitive event financially even if UH is not in the game."
As of Friday, 28,100 tickets had been sold, according to bowl director Donovan. He expected that number could reach 33,000-35,000.
Benson, the WAC commissioner, said the conference's new bowl tie-in will solidify the WAC's relationship with ESPN. Benson said the network this season televised nine regular-season WAC football games and will be showing the Humanitarian and Silicon Valley bowls in addition to the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl. ESPN also will televise five regular-season men's basketball games, plus the WAC championship.
"I think ESPN is the leader in not just college sports but sports across the board," Benson said. "I think it's critical to the WAC to be aligned with ESPN and to be part of the ESPN family."
Donovan, the executive director, said Hawaii's involvement in this year's bowl game can pay off for years to come.
""What it means for UH football is that there will be an awful lot of recruits watching this on Christmas Day that will translate into better recruits coming into the program," he said. "The whole thing has a cyclical effect because the more you win, the better recruits you get. It spirals up.
"The game also is going to be great for our state. You're going to have maybe one of the largest audiences to watch a bowl game potentially outside of the New Year's bowl games. Hopefully, they'll be watching a beautiful day in Hawaii with ESPN spots cutting away to people surfing at the beach. Where most of the country will be fairly cold, if not knee deep in snow, kids will be taking off their shirts with the letters UH painted on their chests."
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ConAgra Foods Inc., the title corporate sponsor of the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl, is figuring that the best way to a customers' wallet is through his stomach. ConAgra wants to
be your ButterballThe food giant sees holiday
event sponsorships as a ticket
into the American psycheBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comThe Omaha, Neb.-based company, which in its 2002 fiscal year had $27.6 billion in sales, has adopted a strategy of sponsoring sporting events around key eating periods such as holidays. In doing so, the company hopes that customers will make a connection with its products. ConAgra also wants to make its corporate name more recognizable to people buying its famous brands.
"In a world where you have thousands of choices, knowing the good name behind the good names is one more measure of trust that you can establish," said Tim McMahon, ConAgra senior vice president of corporate communications. "Knowing the good name behind the good names seems a great way to convey to consumers one more added value to buying Butterball turkeys or Orville Redenbacher's popcorn or Amour hot dogs."
ConAgra, which over the past year has been increasing its exposure through other sporting event sponsorships, made a "six-figure" annual commitment to the Hawaii Bowl, according to Jim Donovan, executive director of the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl.
The company, which will be sponsoring the Big East basketball tournament in March for the second year in a row, took out its golf clubs in August to sign a three-year deal as sponsor of the Skins Game, Senior Skins Game and LPGA Skins Game. The ConAgra Skins Game, which is the men's event, was played Thanksgiving weekend. The ConAgra Senior Skins Game, which recently was renamed the ConAgra Champions Skins Game, will be held at the Wailea Golf Club Gold Course in Maui on Jan. 25. It will be televised on a delayed basis over two days, with the second day serving as a lead-in to the Super Bowl on ABC. The ConAgra LPGA Skins Game, which had not been held since 1998, will be played on the same Wailea course Jan. 26 and will be shown July 1 and 2 on ESPN2.
ConAgra's goal, McMahon said, is that by the end of this year it wants to have its name printed on the back of every package of every brand it sells.
"We have found events (to sponsor) that are associated with certain key periods that people enjoy foods," McMahon said. "Thanksgiving, in the case of the Skins; Christmas, in the case of the Hawaii Bowl. Also, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest snacking occasions, which is why we're sponsoring the Senior Skins, which is now called the Champions. Madison Square Garden (in the case of the Big East Tournament) kicks off the March Madness experience. That's how we've aligned ourselves with key eating activities and snacks."
Besides, Butterball turkeys, Orville Redenbacher's popcorn and Armour hot dogs, ConAgra's food pantry includes Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Bumble Bee seafood, Chef Boyardee, Chun King, Dennison's and Libby's canned meats, Fleischmann's, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Jiffy pop popcorn, Knott's Berry Farm, Louis Kemp seafood, Marie Callender's, PAM cooking sprays, Parkay, Reddi-wip, Swiss Miss, Van Camp's bean and Wesson.
"We were not looking at any other bowl games to sponsor," McMahon said. "We've had a relationship and had done things with ESPN and they said they were developing (the Hawaii Bowl) and we told them we had an interest in doing this. This is a great time of year for this from a corporate point of view -- Butterball turkey, Van Camp's beans, and Reddi-wip to put on pumpkin pie. All those products are synonymous with the company. It's right in line with the message we want to send to our consumers."
