Tennessee-based Dollar General yesterday was announced "as the title sponsor" for Mobile's college football bowl game, replacing GoDaddy, according to Creg Stephenson of AL.com. The first Dollar General Bowl "takes place Dec. 23 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium." This year's game "will be the 18th since the bowl was founded" in '99. It was "known as the Mobile Alabama Bowl that first year," then the GMAC Bowl from '00-'10. GoDaddy "joined as sponsor" in '11. Bowl President Jerry Silverstein said that GoDaddy, whose contract "expired after last year, is getting away from sponsoring U.S. athletic events and concentrating its marketing efforts overseas." The game, which kicks off at 8:00pm ET and will be televised by ESPN, "matches the No. 2 team from the Sun Belt" against a representative of the MAC (AL.com, 8/17). Silverstein said, "Having a title sponsor in today's world is just fantastic. There are a lot of bowls out there, and for Mobile to get the recognition from a national sponsor, to want to participate in the event we have here, just leads to the national stage of what we try to produce here in Mobile." Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said, "We know how passionate many of our customers are about college football and look forward to present Dollar General’s value and convenience message to a national audience" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/18).
