Wow! The best one Derek experienced was the Hawaii Bowl. They were given a catalog and could spend 200 on anything they wanted on top of al the other gifts. Custom Hawaiian shirt, Nike apparel, backpacks, great stuff. I can only imagine what the top bowls give out.
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https://twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/1334635613048496129?s=20
There goes one of our possible spots
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And one of the AACâs better slots especially for the UH, SMU and Tulsa.
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All bowls have the same limitations on budget. Not sure what it is today but it had been $500 per player for a long time.
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It really seems like some bowls had much better gifts than other bowlsâŠmaybe there is a way to game the $500 (or whatever it is) budgetâŠ
The first year of the Texas Bowl I was asked to come by the Texans offices and review their gift package for the players (KSU/Rutgers).
I brought along Big Daddy who is well versed in bowls. After looking at the largess prepared both I and Big Daddy said simultaneously, âOkay, what else?â. They replied that was the package. We said it wasnât enough and they needed to spend the entire $500/player. Big Daddy said that they would get hammered on the internet and on their post game reviews.
It was true, the Texas Bowl was a joke before when they post all the gifts players are to receive. In fact, the only part of the Texas Bowl that received positive reviews was the Hospitality Committee which I happened to chair. The next year they stepped it up and they did custom made Nocona boots for each player. It didnât work great due to the time it took the players to receive them although they were very nice. The following year the Best Buy gift card made its appearance.
Now there is a system with a catalogue so the players can see all the items at the hotel and then place an order for whatever they choose. It is shipped directly to the school. Of course, back packs, warm ups and watches are still pretty standard
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At first I was confused about the Pac 12 part but realized they have probably lost a lot of bowl games. That could potentially leave a USC or Oregon for the Armed Forces Bowl. The SEC team wont be good, but they may be looking at trying to get a team with a losing record like LSU or Arkansas who will bring tons of fans.
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Funny story, we set up the players hospitality with a Blue Bell Ice Cream freezer that I boldly told the players would never run out. Tyron Carrier was redshirting and said he went to bed each night with a stomach ache from eating so much ice cream. He said they tried to clear it out but they kept refilling it.
The next year they played in Ft Worth. I like to know what cool things the other bowls do to incorporate it into the Texas Bowl so I called Carrier and asked. He said âMr Vaughan, itâs nice but they donât have Blue Bellâ.
I called my Blue Bell guy and asked if he could drop one in the Cougars Hospitality in Ft Worth. That day they had ice cream. Sumlin calls me and asked what this was about. I told him Carrier asked for it. I told him that the previous year they all ate too much without any supervision and he said he would cut them off early. Then the Ft Worth Bowl director, Tom Scott, calls me screaming that I canât do that and it has to be equal for both teams. I told him to call Blue Bell and ask for one or the AFA. I was taking care of the Cougars.
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Did not realize that, I guess that would make sense though.