Here’s the situation: I’m going to the Champs Sports Bowl game on Friday the 29th. It is MD (GO TERPS!) against Purdue.
I have put in some calls and emails to the alumni grups of both schools to try and get some collection points for gifts for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as to collect supplies for children in both of those countries.
The response from the schools I got was “we can’t do that, you have to contact the bowl organizers.”
So I did. The response from the bowl was “it’s too close to the game to get good publicity, and we don’t think we can pull off the logistics.”
I’m not willing to accept that answer. I’m trying to call in some favors, and using some very loose connections in the hopes I can pull this off.
Anyone with any (I mean ANY) ideas or connections, I’m willing to take. I can’t fathom the idea of a bowl game that serves no greater purpose, especially during a time of war and when it is so important to support developing democracies abroad.
Please respond to this thread or PM me tomorrow (Friday) before 1pm ET if you have any connections or ideas. I have a couple of loose options that I am pursuing. I have a very hard time accepting that this won’t work. I know it can, I just need some help to make it happen. I am 100% willing to blow off my vacation for the next week in order to organize this.
Thanks very much for your assistance, I know if we are willing to put in the effort this will work.
Here’s the updated response I got from the Bowl Game. I’m beginning to think I might have to give in for this year, but there’s some good efforts already underway:
I work for the association that owns and manages the Champs Sports Bowl. Thank you for your passionate and well thought out idea to help us activate our bowl games – and all other bowl games across America – to drive support for our Armed Forces overseas. We believe your idea carries a great deal of merit, and plan to share your thoughts with the entire Football Bowl Association at our annual meeting this summer for consideration.
I can tell you a lot is done already to honor these brave men and women. As you may know, the bowl game in Fort Worth, Texas was recently named the Armed Forces Bowl and pays significant tribute to our men and women in uniform. While I cannot speak specifically to what other bowls are doing this season, I can tell you that our two games, the Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl, have this year and for as many as I can recall offer a discounted ticket for active-duty and retired military personnel showing identification. This year we have even established a partnership with the local military bases to have them provide the tickets from their base ticket windows, extending the access and successfully increasing participation in this program. It is our attempt to provide their families with an affordable and enjoyable night at the stadium watching a great game.
Unfortunately, we are too short on time to implement your idea this season at the stadium gates in an effective manner. Again, we will share this thought with our city and stadium officials as well as other bowls across the country.
There are a lot of security concerns that I can see in your idea, as charitable as it may be. In the security climate we live in, I can see why they wouldn’t want anything to alter their security planning at the last moment.
Agreed. I’m not trying to make them sound heartless or anything. If they said “we’re worried about security” I can live with that. But “It’s too last minute” just rubbed me the wrong way.
There’s still a 5% chance it’ll happen.
If I wanted, I could have probably forced it to happen at least in an unofficial manner. I could have gotten VFM and American Legion folks to help out, put in calls to local radio stations, etc. But it’s probably best not to do that just so I don’t piss off the bowl people.