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IMO these bowls committees are really devaluing their brands by allowing sponsors to rename the bowls. Yes, they are making money because of the TV deals and sponsorships, but let's not act like fan bases are as excited to go to the Restaurant Bowl or the Lawn Equipment Bowl. The name brand is gone and with that the importance in many fan's eyes of the event.

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I completely agree that in the long-term it waters down the brand and devalues the commodity in the long run.

If the sponsors need their name in there, then yes the "Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl" is fine. When Auburn played in the bowl a few years ago I went and told everyone I was going to the Peach bowl...they all knew what I was talking about even though it has been years since it has been called that.

A bowl with a purely corporate name comes off cheaper and less prestigious to the average person.

St Petersburg Bowl just flat out sounds better than Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl. Same for something like Copper Bowl vs Insight.com/Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Also, the longer a bowl has been around, the more likely people think of it as a good game to end up in even if its slipped down the totem poll. You can't keep that equity with the public if you drop the traditional name for a purely corporate name.

Independence Bowl has brand recognition. People know that its been around for many years. They somewhat expect to see it each bowl season. They know it usually has at least one if not two teams from major conferences.

AdvoCare V100 Bowl does not have that. People won't have any idea what conferences it generally associates with. They won't know its an older bowl. It sounds like a bowl that changes names every few years and was created for 6-6 Sun Belt/MAC matchups.

While they may be making a little bit more money short term, by dropping their longtime name they just devalued their bowl longterm.

This post was edited on 4/28/13 at 8:27 pm