The Boca Raton Bowl spilled the beans about its new sponsor in November. It’s Bush’s Beans. Photo provided
By Larry Barszewski
It looks like South County’s contribution to this year’s college bowl season — Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Beans — is going to be a gas.
And that’s not a crock.
It’s a bowl. A bowl of beans.
The game, to be broadcast on ESPN, takes place at 2 p.m. Dec. 23. Tickets go on sale Dec. 7.
The Boca Raton Bowl’s name legacy started with first sponsor Marmot (outdoor clothing and sporting goods), got a jolt with Cheribundi (tart cherry beverages), then landed on the “who could think of a better” promotion — South Florida’s susceptibility to hurricane disasters — with the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl.
Now it’s Bush’s Beans to the rescue, announced Nov. 20 as the bowl’s latest sponsor.
The company is “on a mission to turn the stadium into the biggest bowl of beans the world has seen,” said Stephen Palacios, Bush’s senior vice president of marketing.
Because, it seems, when life is a bowl of beans, there’s no fear of winding up in the pits.
Holding the Bowl of Beans game at Florida Atlantic University’s Flagler Credit Union Stadium could prove providential — as the bowl can put the credit union’s bean counters to good use.
However, despite Bush’s Beans’ best efforts to brand the event to its taste, it’ll probably end up being just the Bean Bowl to most viewers.
Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, like so many who tune into the NFL Super Bowl each year, seems to be more interested in the commercials that will air during Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Beans than in the game itself.
The city’s partnership with the bowl “highlights our attractiveness to businesses and job creators through targeted ads airing during the game,” wrote Singer in an email to The Coastal Star. Even before the Bean Bowl got its name, the mayor was out touting Boca Raton as a great escape to New York City businesses concerned about that city’s election of a democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, as mayor.
The benefits of the city’s partnership with the bowl game continue to increase even as sponsors have changed, Singer wrote, and Bush’s “provides new creative marketing opportunities for additional exposure.”
Boca Raton: The city that’s full of beans.
That just leaves the bowl teams, which are expected to be announced Dec. 7.
The expectations have varied greatly. CBS Sports was recently projecting a matchup between Florida International and Lousiana-Lafayette, while Coastal Carolina, South Florida and Southern Mississippi were among other names bandied about as potential contenders.
Maybe bowl-eligible Duke University would be a better choice, supported by Bush’s Beans’ own longtime mascot, Duke (a dog and a good boy). Duke’s Blue Devils could then fight it out with the University of Alabama, another bowl-eligible team, with Bush’s Best Red Beans pureed to create a Crimson Tide chip dip.
All in all, the Bush’s Beans sponsorship has the ingredients to be long running. With all the bean-eating bravado that will be taking place, it’s easy to see that one bowl will surely lead to another.
For more information, go to BocaRatonBowl.com.
Comments