Las Vegas Bowl finds ‘optimistic’ backer

Ken Walker seems like a nice fellow. He speaks with one of those engaging Texas drawls that he says is handed down from his Mama, where syllables are either dropped or overstressed, the kind you never tire of hearing.

He lives in Charlotte, N.C., and is CEO and chairman of MAACO Franchising, Inc., the company that says it can buff out your car’s scratches and dents and repaint much cheaper than others.

Walker was in town Tuesday to help announce his company’s decision to dive further into the unsettling pool of college football bowl sponsorship, which in such miserable economic times means Walker is either an innovator or nuts.

“If you don’t believe in the country and you don’t believe in the economy and you don’t believe in the American work ethic that we will bounce back from anything, you may want to cut back,” he said. “I happen to be one of the most optimistic people in the world. This recession never happened for me.”

(Cue the “Twilight Zone” theme music.)

“We believe tomorrow is always going to be brighter,” Walker continued, “that the best time to advertise is when others are cutting back.”

I’m guessing this isn’t what MAACO refers to as one of those uh-oh moments.

It is more than a moment of relief for the Las Vegas Bowl. More like three years’ worth. While other bowl committees are searching and praying and begging for corporations to write seven-figure checks to save their postseason games, those who stage their annual December matchup here have it much easier.

All they pray and beg for is Brigham Young winning another Mountain West Conference championship.

It’s an enviable place to be. In a recent bowl climate in which ticket sales and travel packages were down and merchandise remained in boxes across the country, the Las Vegas Bowl has counted its last four BYU home games as sellouts and now has a three-year sponsorship commitment with an option.

The climate around here is all blue skies and sunshine.

“There are bowls out there that are very concerned about finding people willing to step up and spend millions of dollars (in sponsorship),” said Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl. “It’s frightening for some. At the end of 2009, they could be out on the streets. We are very fortunate.

“I can see where everyone has to look outside the box for sponsors in these times. But we weren’t going to lower our standards.”

Which means she wouldn’t have agreed to a strip club as title sponsor.

It’s an interesting point. Walker’s fantasy-land viewpoint about the recession aside, judicious doesn’t begin to describe how corporations are spending advertising dollars nowadays.

Thinking outside the box might severely test core values if a struggling bowl wants to remain alive and kicking for another glorious December of empty seats and low television ratings.

Granted, the strip club sponsorship would be a tough sell, particularly to the NCAA. Video games and warm-up suits are one thing, but I’m guessing a gift bag for players stuffed with $1 bills for the postgame party wouldn’t fly unless it involved a Southeastern Conference team.

“When someone is willing to spend the money to sponsor a bowl, you listen,” Kunzer-Murphy said. “But, no, we’re thankfully not in the position of needing a strip club or some goofy condom store as a sponsor.”

Which sort of nixes all those potential slogans if the Southern California Trojans return to the game.

What the Las Vegas Bowl has now is a relationship with a company that also sponsors the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., that understands the highs and lows of financially supporting a postseason game.

It appears a more stable deal than a previous one with Pioneer, the electronics company that renewed its sponsorship annually in Las Vegas. Then those at Pioneer stopped making plasma panels. Then that part about judicious spending kicked in.

Walker talks about number of impressions. It’s a subjective way of gauging how much your brand benefits from being associated with any bowl.

There are major differences between a television commercial or radio spot or your bowl game’s odds being listed in the back of a newspaper in print smaller than a Tolstoy novel. Still, these things add up fast.

“We will get around 1.5 billion impressions being involved with the Las Vegas Bowl,” Walker said. “I know the value of something like that. We know this format works.

“Our sales go up during the time of the (Meineke Car Care Bowl). College football fans recognize the brand. A bowl game takes it to another level.

“Would you have known what Meineke was had we not been in a bowl?”

I’m still not certain what it is.

But don’t look at me. I thought we were in a recession.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.