Belk pulls sponsorship of annual college football bowl game in Charlotte
Belk is dropping its sponsorship of Charlotte’s annual post-Christmas football bowl at Bank of America Stadium in uptown after the 18th annual event on Dec. 31, officials with the Charlotte Sports Foundation said Wednesday.
“For more than 130 years, Belk has been committed to caring for our communities, and now we’re taking that commitment to the next level by investing in new corporate giving initiatives that will have a greater impact on our hometowns,” the company said in a statement Wednesday night.
“We’re grateful for the long-standing partnership we’ve had with the Charlotte Sports Foundation to host the bowl game and look forward to seeing how it continues to positively impact sports and communities around Charlotte.”
In a separate statement, foundation executive director Danny Morrison said the foundation has had “a great nine-year run with Belk as the title sponsor. Our emphasis is to make this year’s game the best one yet.
“We are grateful to Belk for helping to position this bowl as one of the premier bowl games in the country,” said Morrison, former longtime president of the NFL Carolina Panthers
The Belk Bowl pits teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference.
ESPN broadcasts the bowl, scheduled for a noon kick-off. The Belk Bowl is the only bowl game in the Carolinas.
The non-profit foundation is in active discussions with potential title sponsors for 2020 and beyond, according to a foundation news release.
Besides the holiday bowl game, the sponsorship also includes the season-opening College Kickoff game, which next year will feature Notre Dame and Wake Forest. The matchup for the 2019 Belk Bowl will be announced Dec. 8.
Belk has been the title sponsor of the game since 2011.
As an ACC-SEC matchup, the bowl has ranked in the top five TV audiences for a non-playoff college bowl game, according to the foundation.
Over the next six years, the Charlotte bowl game will match the ACC against a Big Ten opponent in 2020, 2022 and 2024, with an ACC team against an SEC team in the odd-numbered years of 2021, 2023 and 2025.
“With the expansion of our ties to the strongest conferences in college football, the future of our bowl has never looked brighter,” Morrison said in the statement.
“Dating back to 2002, the Charlotte bowl game has historically been in the top tier of all bowls from an attendance and ratings standpoint, and we are excited about working with a new title sponsor as we continue to elevate the game on the field and the fan experience surrounding the event.”
The foundation was formed in 2013 as a combination of Charlotte’s two primary sports development groups, Charlotte Collegiate Football and the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Belk pulls sponsorship of annual college football bowl game in Charlotte."