Boca Raton Bowl Brings Buzz to the City

On December 23, FAU Stadium will host the first ever “Boca Raton Bowl”, and according to Mid-Atlantic Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, the bowl has the all ingredients to be a success — the warm weather of South Florida, FAU’s campus hosting the event and ESPN broadcasting a competitive game between two college football teams.

Steinbrecher, whose member teams include wintry locales such as Buffalo, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, said, “Every one of our member teams is interested in coming.”

The game received a boost with the announcement that the Orange Bowl Committee will provide operational and media relations assistance. Orange Bowl Committee president and chair Luis Boue joined Derzis and the commissioners on the dais. The Orange Bowl will be staged this year on Dec. 31.

Although the Boca Raton Bowl will be played at FAU Stadium, the FAU Owls are very unlikely to play in the game.

At 3-4 going into Saturday’s matchup versus Marshall, which is one of four unbeaten FBS teams in the country at 7-0 and is ranked 22nd in the coaches poll and 23rd in the AP poll, the Owls would need to win three of their last five to even be considered bowl eligible, and even then they are not guaranteed a berth in the Boca Raton Bowl.

However, one of the biggest concerns for the Boca Raton Bowl is if they will be able to find a title sponsor in time for the game. The game doesn’t officially have a name yet, but the city wants to call it the “Boca Raton Bowl” and naming rights will cost the city $200,000.

According to Boca Chamber president Troy Mcllelan, attaching the name Boca Raton to a College Bowl game will put the city on the map even more with the name front and center.

“When you bring a division 1 college football bowl game in a community it has a tremendous impact on restaurants and hotels,” said Mcllelan, “This reinforces the sense of place Boca has among the country and world.”

Pete Derzis, a general manager at ESPN, said the company is pursuing several companies that will agree to a multi-year deal.

“We have some wonderful assets to package to a sponsor,” Derzis said. “The title piece to go with the Boca Raton brand is the only really missing piece that we haven’t clicked on yet. We’re trying to find the right fit. The good news is it’s not going to impact the quality of the events or the game itself.”

Hotel assignments also were announced at Monday’s news conference, with the Wyndham serving as the host for game officials, PGA National Resort for the MAC team and Boca Raton Hotel & Resort for the C-USA team. Other host hotels include the Doubletree in Palm Beach Gardens and Embassy Suites in Boca Raton.