It's not going to be called the General Motors Army-Navy Game, but the academies are considering their options when it comes to the sponsorship and location of one of the nation's most storied college football matchups.
The game is under contract for Philadelphia through 2009, but Army-Navy could get a new venue after that, with Baltimore a bidder. As for sponsorship, the schools are interested but not committed to landing one.
"We're looking at a presenting sponsor, but it's not going to be the 'X Army-Navy game,' " Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said. "There's a couple of ways to look at it. There's the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and the other way would be 'The Army-Navy game, presented by X company.'"
The idea of having a sponsor is still in its infancy, and there's no guarantee there will be any deal in place.
"We're testing the waters to see if it's something we should consider," Gladchuk said. "There could be someone that's interested in being a presenting sponsor that we don't feel comfortable with. It's an exercise in due diligence to see if a presenting sponsor is worth consideration."
Gladchuk said that so far there have been early discussions with General Motors, but no decisions or commitments have been made.
Army athletic director Kevin Anderson said after a regular-season game at Texas A&M that he realized adding a sponsor would be a lucrative idea.
"What really brought it to our attention is we had people approach us asking if they could be a presenter of our game against Texas A&M in San Antonio," Anderson said. "That being a regular-season football game, we sat down with Navy and said we're missing an opportunity here and we should look at this strongly. The Naval Academy agreed that we had potential to get the right sponsor for the game and do the right thing for us."
The academies feel sponsorship could make a big game even bigger.
"I think if you went around and polled the American public, they would say that this is almost a kickoff to bowl season," Anderson said. "I think that both institutions' philosophy was to find the right partner that represents the right thing that will continue to promote the game in a positive light."
Don Hinchey, vice president of communications for the Bonham Group sports and entertainment marketing firm, based in Denver, said: "It makes a lot of sense, both from a financial standpoint and a marketing standpoint. The game will benefit from the marketing support that the corporate sponsor can provide in terms of advertising and run-ups to the game on broadcasts and cable networks. It'll probably also benefit from ticket-sale support, in addition to exposure.
