Opening Kickoff College football season is here! Legendary Coach Steve Spurrier recently took the stage at the Arizona Bank & Trust Fiesta Bowl Kickoff Luncheon presented by Caesars Sportsbook and entertained a sold-out crowd. He shared the roadmap that led him to national championships, 21 Bowl Season games and the College Football Hall of Fame: Assemble your group, put your plan in place, visualize it happening, believe you can achieve, transcend previous success, have confidence and trust in everyone on your team, and stay resilient because challenges will happen along the way. At the Fiesta Bowl, we strive for Excellence Every Day as stated in our core values that drive our daily operations and success.
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With our charitable giving distributions announced last month, the “Enhance lives in all we do” core value really rings true. We experienced the smiles, tears and gratitude when informing 51 nonprofit grant recipients and it immediately reminded us of the “Why” behind the Fiesta Bowl’s work. We are so proud and grateful to these charitable organizations that will be able to serve so many needs in our community. It is also time for us to grant wishes to teachers. If you are a teacher or know a teacher, please spread the word about the Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers program. We want to grant your wish. It takes less than 10 minutes to apply, and we will randomly support 400 teachers with a $2,500 grant for their classroom. These programs truly enhance the lives of Arizonans across the state and make Arizona a better place to work, live, learn and play. We are Fiesta!
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NEWS & NOTES Hail Caesars The Fiesta Bowl has joined forces with Caesars Entertainment in a first-ofits-kind sports betting and fantasy gaming partnership for a college football Bowl game. Caesars will host new fan lounges within the stadiums for the PlayStation® Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl, become title partner of the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl pregame parties and join in the annual Arizona Bank & Trust Fiesta Bowl Kickoff Luncheon as presenting partner. Sports betting officially goes live in Arizona on September 9, and subject to required regulatory approvals, fans can download the Caesars Sportsbook app to make a bet from anywhere in the state. This multi-year relationship will expand Caesars’s footprint across the state by bringing its state-ofthe-art platform to college football fans while enhancing the education of responsible gaming and bringing fans closer to the excitement that college football delivers. READ MORE
Some Grand Parade Marshals Last month we shared the new date of the Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Parade being two weeks earlier for its spotlight date of Saturday, December 18, at 10 a.m. Now, we are proud to share that Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper and the Fiesta Bowl Founders have been honored as Grand Marshals, to showcase the theme of “Gold Standard: A Commitment to CommUNITY” and commemorate the organization’s 50th Anniversary of community impact. Joining the Parade family this year is Lerner & Rowe as presenting partner, after having worked with the Fiesta Bowl Organization on several community relations projects over the past several years. The Fiesta Bowl once again invites and encourages groups to submit an application to participate in the Parade, with the deadline closing on Friday, September 10, 2021. APPLY NOW
PG 2
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In what has become one of Arizona’s most impactful teacher support initiatives, the Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers program for the sixth consecutive year will provide grants directly to teachers for use in their classrooms. Applications are now open for all Arizona K-12 public and charter school teachers through September 24 at 5 p.m. Fill out the online application at www.WishesForTeachers.org, detailing the teacher’s school or classroom need. This year’s program will double the amount of teacher recipients, with 400 teachers having their wishes granted. Each will receive a $2,500 grant for a total of $1 million in donations.
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NEWS & NOTES Better to Give Than Receive At the heart of the Fiesta Bowl Organization is a simple mission: to enhance organizations that contribute to the success of their communities through youth, sports and education. Through its two annual bowl games in the Valley, the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, as well as community events throughout the year, Fiesta Bowl Charities has selected 51 Arizona nonprofits through its 2021-22 Grant Cycle. Over 575,000 Arizonans will be impacted by the Fiesta Bowl Charities Grant Recipients!
2021-22 Projected Numbers: • 406,941 youth impacted • 258,610 benefiting from sports programming • 346,945 benefiting from educational programming • 6,180 books distributed • 20,000 pounds of fresh produce provided
Bowl Season Meeting Visits Scottsdale More than 300 members attended the Bowl Season Annual Meeting in early August at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, marking the first gathering of its kind in more than two years. Representatives from the 44 bowl games, the College Football Playoff (CFP), ESPN, sponsors and vendors took advantage of the opportunity to meet, network, brainstorm and plan for the coming season. The keynote speaker for the general session was ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. The Bowl Season Annual Meeting featured four in-depth panel discussions – Modern Day Storytelling, the Evolving Landscape of Community Impact, Fan Engagement in the Post-Pandemic Era, and Name, Image and Likeness. Each panel included experts in the sports and entertainment industry and were well-received. READ MORE
PG 4
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VICTORY STARTS HERE The PlayStation® Fiesta Bowl has been known to play in front of full crowds for some of the most memorable college football moments. Ticket sales have begun to kick off New Year’s Day 2022 in style! Hot off our 50th Anniversary game, this year’s PlayStation Fiesta Bowl will be on Saturday, January 1, 2022, with tickets available at FiestaBowl.org/Tickets. By buying now, you receive the benefits of purchasing early by securing your preferred seat location for what will be the top college football matchup in the state of Arizona and locking in your seat location for the 2022 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.
F I E S TA B O W L . O R G
PG 5
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Ryan hatch Vice President of Content & Operations, Bonneville Phoenix First Year as Volunteer: 2016, although through KTAR I have worked very closely with the Fiesta Bowl since I moved here in the fall of ’06.
Suns, Cardinals, Diamondbacks and Sun Devils, the first play-by-play broadcast to ever air on the station was the legendary Boise State vs. Oklahoma OT game.
First Year as Yellow Jacket Committee Member: 2016
Why I Serve the Fiesta Bowl: It is so rewarding to support nonprofits and improve our community through a sport that I’m personally so passionate about.
Favorite Fiesta Bowl Game: Watching Alex Smith and Urban Meyer cap off a perfect season surrounded by 30,000+ Utah fans at Sun Devil Stadium as my Utes became the first non-power conference team to bust the BCS with a dominating 35-7 win over Pitt. Favorite Fiesta Bowl Moment: I moved to the Valley to build and launch Sports 620 KTAR (now Arizona Sports 98.7 FM & ESPN 620) and our first day in the all-sports format was January 1, 2007. Even though we were the flagship station for the
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Favorite Job I’ve been lucky to have been a chair and assistant chair quite a few times for VIP Hospitality. It doesn’t get much better than showcasing our world class, high touch hospitality with the ADs, coaches, boosters and their families. Interesting fact: I was the child lead in the Utah Opera Company’s production of Gianni Schicchi when I was eight years old.
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NEWSWORTHY
Applications for Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Wishes for Teachers Program now open FOX10 PHOENIX
Fiesta Bowl Secures First Bowl Game Gambling Partnership With Caesars Entertainment SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Girl Scouts bike program thrives statewide through Fiesta Bowl Charities VALLEY INDEPENDENT
F I E S TA B O W L . O R G
College football bowl game executives plot next steps in Scottsdale PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL
Fiesta Bowl, Caesars announce sports betting partnership ASSOCIATED PRESS
Applications open for Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers grant VALLEY INDEPENDENT
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S C OTT L E IGH TMAN
S E N IO R DIRECTOR OF COMMUN ICATION S 4 8 0 - 5 1 7 - 6 2 9 1 | SL EIGH TMAN @ FIESTABOWL .ORG
AL E X NASH
CO M M UN ICATION S & SOCIAL MED IA MAN AGER 4 8 0 - 3 5 0 - 0 9 2 5 | AN ASH @ FIESTABOWL .ORG
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