It was announced recently that the Tempe, Arizona-based company Insight Technologies has decided to end its partnership with the bowl game played at Sun Devil Stadium. What was once the Copper Bowl played down in Tucson, the formerly Insight Bowl now is more than just a little meaningless bowl. There have been a few very good games. One that comes to mind is the year when Texas Tech rallied from a 31 point second half deficit to beat Minnesota, a game that eventually led to the firing of Minnesota's head coach.
The bowl rescued Tempe in a way. Before coming to Sun Devil Stadium, the Insight Bowl was played in the then-named Bank One Ballpark. After University of Phoenix Stadium opened in Glendale and took the Fiesta Bowl with it, Tempe was desperate to remain relevant. They gave Insight a great deal to bring the game to Tempe.
At the time, the bowl was really nothing more than what Insight used as its end-of-year party for its employees. Now it is a big boy bowl with important teams playing -- like Oklahoma this year.
Now the task is finding a new sponsor, and hence name, for the game. There is one article that has some great ideas for names.
Replacing The Insight Bowl: New Name Suggestions For Tempe's Game - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
The modern bowl game is named after a company. Institutions based in and around Tempe, according to Wikipedia and elsewhere:
- Circle K Bowl
- The Gin Blossoms Bowl
- Insane Maricopa County Sheriff Bowl
- LifeLock Bowl
- McFarlane Toys Bowl
- Mobile Mini Bowl
- Piranha Interactive Publishing Bowl
You know that someone will step up to the plate and take the sponsorship and naming rights. Likely it will sound terrible.
Now Insight has not mentioned why they pulled out of the sponsorship, but I suppose it likely is a simple business move. Regardless the reason, the game has come a long way.
It now is an ESPN bowl after having been hidden away on NFL Network. It is a pretty inexpensive game to attend. You get pretty notable programs like Oklahoma, Missouri and Iowa.
Hopefully the new sponsor can keep up the traditions of years past. After all, since the bowls don't actually mean anything anyway, it might well be a good time, right?
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