The Fiesta Bowl is parlaying its charity work and community events into new sponsorship deals. The bowl group -- which puts on the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and Cheez-It Bowl -- will give out $2.5M in grants to charities and nonprofits this year. It also hosts events across Arizona 10 months out of the year. Fiesta Bowl Exec Dir Mike Nealy said that appeals to companies large and not so large. “Businesses really want to be associated with good organizations, with charitable organizations,” Nealy said. National used car seller DriveTime has started sponsoring the Fiesta Bowl’s Wishes for Teachers program, which gives 2,000 Arizona teachers $1M in grants. The Fiesta Bowl’s $100,000 refurbishment this weekend of a playground at a Phoenix recreation center for handicapped children is being sponsored by consumer law firm Lerner & Rowe. The playground was previously destroyed by a fire. Technology group Kadima Ventures has also been adding a major sponsor of Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge an innovation competition for high school and middle school STEM Students. The game earlier this week announced an extension of its naming-rights deal with PlayStation. ESPN controls the naming rights for the New Year's Six bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl.
