New Era Cap Co. Inc. will be the title sponsor of the first-ever college football bowl game to be held at Yankee Stadium.
The sponsorship deal for the game named the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, scheduled for Dec. 30, 2010, was announced by the host New York Yankees.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The pact, which covers four years, gives Buffalo-based New Era exclusive headwear licensing rights and non-exclusive apparel licensing rights on bowl-game-related merchandise.
New Era CEO Chris Koch said, “This gives us a unique opportunity to show our interest and appreciation for the game of football.”
The game, set for 4:30 p.m., will be nationally televised by ESPN, which has also secured national and local radio rights for ESPN Radio. The deals for both broadcast platforms are for six years through the 2015 game.
The bowl committee is proud to launch the official New Era Pinstripe Bowl Web site, www.newerapinstripebowl.com.
The New Era Pinstripe Bowl will pit the third- or fourth-place team from the Big East against the seventh-place team from the Big 12. Should the Big 12 representative not qualify for bowl eligibility under NCAA guidelines, the University of Notre Dame has agreed to take part against a Big East opponent.
It will mark the first NCAA football bowl game in the Bronx since the Gotham Bowl on December 15, 1962, when Nebraska edged Miami (Fla.), 36-34, at the original Yankee Stadium.
In July 2009, the Yankees announced that Yankee Stadium will host a Notre Dame-Army game on Nov. 20, 2010, as well as a series of Army home football games vs. Rutgers in 2011, Air Force in 2012 and Boston College in 2014.
