Tucson’s Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl is the first to be sponsored by a rapper, an alcohol product

In a dramatic start to Arizona’s college football bowl season, Kansas State erased a 17-point second-half deficit to beat Rutgers at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.

Bowl games continue Saturday in Tucson, but this year with a new name and a new sponsor.

Colorado State and Miami of Ohio will face off in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl.

The game is also sponsored by Gin and Juice by Dre and Snoop – a line of canned cocktails named after the hit and created by the hip-hop icon and his longtime collaborator Dr. Dre were brought onto the market.

The Snoop Dogg Bowl is the first bowl game ever named after a rapper and the first to be sponsored by an alcohol product.

Saturday’s game kicks off at 4:30 p.m

In the playoffs, Boise State and Penn State play in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale on Tuesday.

ASU will then face Texas in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on New Year’s Day.

Players from both Arizona Bowl teams will receive NIL opportunities

When Snoop made his final move and became a bowl game sponsor, he had one demand: Find a way for all players in the game to receive name, image and likeness (NIL) money.

“This was Snoop’s idea,” said Kym Adair, general manager of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice. “He was having conversations with people he knows in the college football world and I got a call saying he wanted us to be the first Bowler to make that commitment and we did. “

The beneficiaries are Colorado State and Miami (Ohio), which will conclude their seasons in the Arizona Bowl on Saturday at Arizona Stadium. The bowl is classified as a 501(c)(3), so all proceeds go to charity. And since it’s one of the few bowls not tied to ESPN, it opens the door for unique sponsorship opportunities.

The bowl was previously sponsored by Barstool Sports and the digital media company used its own cast of characters for the broadcast, which was streamed on its digital platforms.

Snoop Dogg is taking over this year. The rapper/entertainer is the latest celebrity to sponsor a bowl, following in the footsteps of Jimmy Kimmel and Rob Gronkowski at the LA Bowl.

And Snoop being Snoop, he wanted to put his own spin on his own bowl.

“College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk of NIL, conference realignment, coaching changes, transfer portal and superconferences,” Snoop said in a video posted to social media. “So it’s time for us to go back to the roots of college football – when it focused on the colleges, the players and the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry.”

This means there will be a NIL component.

The bowl can’t pay players just for playing in the bowl, but both teams took football clinics Friday and are being paid for their services. Other bowls have offered zero opportunities to individual players, but this is believed to be the first bowl to offer them to every player on both teams.

“I love the fact that the Arizona Bowl is unique and tries new things, and of course having Snoop here is unique,” ​​Colorado State coach Jay Norvell said. “The NIL component is the future. That’s how football has become now. We think it’s fantastic for our children and the interaction with the children is the hidden gem of it all.”