After an eight-year absence, Peach is returning to the name of Atlanta?s college-football bowl game.
Chick-fil-A Bowl officials are planning a news conference for Monday to announce that the bowl?s name will revert to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
Gary Stokan, president of the bowl, confirmed the plan today exclusively to the AJC.
?It got down to what is our history, what is our heritage, what is our tradition and how can we pay homage to that in our name,? Stokan said.
?We undertook research to find out what is the best name and how it fits with the bowl. That?s how we got back to Peach. We felt it was important to the fans, to the staff and to the volunteers who have committed to the bowl through the years. So we paid homage to the history and the tradition of the bowl.?
At the press conference, bowl and Chick-fil-A officials also are expected to unveil more plans regarding the game?s elevation from a mid-tier postseason event into a high-profile part of the new four-team College Football Playoff.
The Atlanta game was founded in 1968 as the Peach Bowl, which remained the event?s sole name for three decades. The name was expanded to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in 1997 when the Atlanta-based restaurant chain became the bowl?s first title sponsor. Peach was dropped from the name in 2006 in return for more sponsorship money from Chick-fil-A.
The change back to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl stems from last April?s decision by College Football Playoff organizers to make the Atlanta bowl one of six rotating sites of national semifinal games.
The playoff organizers stipulated that the Atlanta bowl?s name would have to become more in sync with the other five in the semifinal rotation, all of which include a traditional moniker as well as a corporate sponsor: Allstate Sugar Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl, AT&T Cotton Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio.
At the time, speculation immediately surfaced that Peach would rejoin the name, but bowl officials later tested other options that would satisfy the playoff?s naming requirements. They ultimately determined that Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl made the most sense.
?At the end of the day, the preponderance of our board was supportive when this name was listed against any other name that was put on the board,? Stokan said.
Chick-fil-A executive vice president and chief marketing officer Steve Robinson said the company is happy with the ?judicious? and research-driven way that bowl officials and bowl board members went about the decision to reinstate Peach.
?It would have been very easy to just have an immediate emotional reaction and say, ?We?ve got to use a moniker, we?ve got to bring a moniker back, we?re going to use Peach,?? Robinson said. ?We all know there were some rough days in the history of the Peach Bowl, and so one of the questions was whether there were brand issues there that actually would not work in our favor. So I commend (Stokan) and the board for being willing to do customer research where a large number of potential moniker names were floated to determine which one had the best fit for Atlanta, college football and the future. And Peach won.
?It was encouraging to know we were picking a moniker that people still liked, that it still resonated with,? Robinson said. ?And even if there were rocky days in the history of the Peach Bowl, it has survived 46 years, and Chick-fil-A has had the privilege of being associated with it for 17 of those years. ? All of that to say that all of us at Chick-fil-A, after doing that (research), were completely comfortable and supportive of going back to Peach because the voice of the customer had been listened to.?
Robinson acknowledged ?there?s always a concern? about brand identity for a title sponsor of an event when its name is joined by a moniker.
?If we had our druthers, we?d rather have remained the Chick-fil-A Bowl,? he admitted. ?But the playoff group did not give us that option, so we?re willing to play by the rules. We?re not worried about it. We?re indelibly joined to the Peach name, and we?re part of it.?
As part of the playoff, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host a national semifinal game once every three years. It will have a semifinal game for the 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 seasons. In other years, the bowl will match two highly rated teams in a non-playoff game.
The bowl will be played in the Georgia Dome through the 2016 season and is scheduled to move into the new retractable-roof Falcons stadium when it opens in 2017.
......................................................................................................................
So I commend (Stokan) and the board for being willing to do customer research where a large number of potential moniker names were floated to determine which one had the best fit for Atlanta, college football and the future. And Peach won.
\
Allstate Sugar Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl, AT&T Cotton Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio.
The real customer research would show just call it the Peach Bowl and leave the Chick Fil A off
Just like christmas football goes commercial and is bought and paid for.
its amazing they took the names of our football bowls away from tradition
Once you get to the stadium they can bombard us with Chick Fil A signs. Why does it have to be the
name of the bowl. How much do they pay to have this and who gets that money ?
what is this world really coming to:SIB
Chick-fil-A Bowl officials are planning a news conference for Monday to announce that the bowl?s name will revert to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
Gary Stokan, president of the bowl, confirmed the plan today exclusively to the AJC.
?It got down to what is our history, what is our heritage, what is our tradition and how can we pay homage to that in our name,? Stokan said.
?We undertook research to find out what is the best name and how it fits with the bowl. That?s how we got back to Peach. We felt it was important to the fans, to the staff and to the volunteers who have committed to the bowl through the years. So we paid homage to the history and the tradition of the bowl.?
At the press conference, bowl and Chick-fil-A officials also are expected to unveil more plans regarding the game?s elevation from a mid-tier postseason event into a high-profile part of the new four-team College Football Playoff.
The Atlanta game was founded in 1968 as the Peach Bowl, which remained the event?s sole name for three decades. The name was expanded to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in 1997 when the Atlanta-based restaurant chain became the bowl?s first title sponsor. Peach was dropped from the name in 2006 in return for more sponsorship money from Chick-fil-A.
The change back to Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl stems from last April?s decision by College Football Playoff organizers to make the Atlanta bowl one of six rotating sites of national semifinal games.
The playoff organizers stipulated that the Atlanta bowl?s name would have to become more in sync with the other five in the semifinal rotation, all of which include a traditional moniker as well as a corporate sponsor: Allstate Sugar Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl, AT&T Cotton Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio.
At the time, speculation immediately surfaced that Peach would rejoin the name, but bowl officials later tested other options that would satisfy the playoff?s naming requirements. They ultimately determined that Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl made the most sense.
?At the end of the day, the preponderance of our board was supportive when this name was listed against any other name that was put on the board,? Stokan said.
Chick-fil-A executive vice president and chief marketing officer Steve Robinson said the company is happy with the ?judicious? and research-driven way that bowl officials and bowl board members went about the decision to reinstate Peach.
?It would have been very easy to just have an immediate emotional reaction and say, ?We?ve got to use a moniker, we?ve got to bring a moniker back, we?re going to use Peach,?? Robinson said. ?We all know there were some rough days in the history of the Peach Bowl, and so one of the questions was whether there were brand issues there that actually would not work in our favor. So I commend (Stokan) and the board for being willing to do customer research where a large number of potential moniker names were floated to determine which one had the best fit for Atlanta, college football and the future. And Peach won.
?It was encouraging to know we were picking a moniker that people still liked, that it still resonated with,? Robinson said. ?And even if there were rocky days in the history of the Peach Bowl, it has survived 46 years, and Chick-fil-A has had the privilege of being associated with it for 17 of those years. ? All of that to say that all of us at Chick-fil-A, after doing that (research), were completely comfortable and supportive of going back to Peach because the voice of the customer had been listened to.?
Robinson acknowledged ?there?s always a concern? about brand identity for a title sponsor of an event when its name is joined by a moniker.
?If we had our druthers, we?d rather have remained the Chick-fil-A Bowl,? he admitted. ?But the playoff group did not give us that option, so we?re willing to play by the rules. We?re not worried about it. We?re indelibly joined to the Peach name, and we?re part of it.?
As part of the playoff, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host a national semifinal game once every three years. It will have a semifinal game for the 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 seasons. In other years, the bowl will match two highly rated teams in a non-playoff game.
The bowl will be played in the Georgia Dome through the 2016 season and is scheduled to move into the new retractable-roof Falcons stadium when it opens in 2017.
......................................................................................................................
So I commend (Stokan) and the board for being willing to do customer research where a large number of potential moniker names were floated to determine which one had the best fit for Atlanta, college football and the future. And Peach won.
\
Allstate Sugar Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl, AT&T Cotton Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio.
The real customer research would show just call it the Peach Bowl and leave the Chick Fil A off
Just like christmas football goes commercial and is bought and paid for.
its amazing they took the names of our football bowls away from tradition
Once you get to the stadium they can bombard us with Chick Fil A signs. Why does it have to be the
name of the bowl. How much do they pay to have this and who gets that money ?
what is this world really coming to:SIB
