Foster Farms to sponsor Bay Area bowl at Levi’s Stadium
The Bay Area bowl game that will be played in the new Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 30 will be known as the Foster Farms Bowl.
The announcement came from the Livingston-based poultry giant, which is celebrating its 75th year, and from the San Francisco Bowl Game Association, organizers of the 13-year-old college football bowl game that’s being played at Levi’s Stadium – home of the San Francisco 49ers – for the first time.
The bowl previously had been played in San Francisco. It was called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl from 2010-12 and just the Fight Hunger Bowl last year when it did not have a title sponsor. The game will remain committed to the cause of fighting hunger, with each ticket sold leading to a meal for a hungry family in the Bay Area.
The game will feature teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences.
“We’re very proud and excited to partner with Foster Farms as the new title sponsor of our bowl game,” Gary Cavalli, the game’s co-founder and executive director, said in a news release. “Foster Farms is a highly respected, 75-year old, Northern California-based company. They are the perfect naming rights partner for us as we move into a new era at Levi’s Stadium with an iconic matchup of Pac-12 vs. Big Ten. We look forward to working together with Foster Farms and the San Francisco 49ers to continue to grow the game.”
Bryan Reese, Foster Farms’ senior vice president of marketing, sales and R&D, added: “There is nothing better than chicken and football. ... Foster Farms is thrilled to sponsor the first college bowl game to be hosted at the state-of-the-art Levi’s Stadium. The Foster Farms Bowl will bring together some of the nation’s fiercest competitors from two of the country’s premier conferences. ... We look forward to sharing this new bowl experience with fans at home and in the stadium alike.”
The previous 12 games were played at AT&T Park, home of the three-time World Series champion Giants. Previous matchups brought many of college football’s stellar programs to the area. Five teams that have won national championships have played in the game: USC, Florida State, Miami, Washington and BYU.
Other high-profile institutions to have participated include UCLA, Cal, Arizona State, Navy, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
The bowl and the Pac-12 initially aligned in 2006, when UCLA played Florida State in the first pairing of two storied programs. The Pac-12 has been represented in every subsequent year save for 2010. Illinois (2011) is the only Big Ten team to have participated in the bowl to date. The new Pac-12 vs. Big Ten matchup will extend through 2019.
The game previously was known as the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl (2002-03), the Emerald (as in Stockton-based Emerald nuts) Bowl (2004-09), the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (2010-12) and the Fight Hunger Bowl (2013).
The Foster Farms Bowl will kick off at 7p.m. Dec. 30. The game will be carried nationally in prime time by ESPN.
This story was originally published November 12, 2014 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Foster Farms to sponsor Bay Area bowl at Levi’s Stadium."