Raycom Media Camellia Bowl Builds on Success
February 2016
By David Zaslawsky
Photographs supplied by Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
The executive director of the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl said that he received a letter after last December’s game from what he called an avid college football fan in New Mexico.
Johnny Williams said that the fan wrote that he “could tell by watching TV that your community is involved in the game.” He wrote that is not the case with a lot of other communities.
Other college football bowl officials are “jealous because we have a unique event here in Montgomery, that everybody is on the same page,” Williams said. He hears from colleagues that not all counties and cities and chambers are on that same page working together to ensure that a bowl game is a success.
“That’s what is so rewarding for me personally, is to have everybody buy in – not only the general fans, but the county, chamber, the city, the state,” Williams said. “We’re in it every year – teams will change, but this is our bowl.”
He even heard that from ESPN, which owns 13 bowl games, including the Camellia Bowl, which was held last December at Cramton Bowl. “I keep hearing back that they (ESPN bowl officials) are so happy to be in Montgomery … where everybody works on the same piece of paper,” Williams said. “They were tremendously pleased. They were very happy with the ratings.”
Along with everything else, the television ratings jumped from the inaugural game in 2014 to the 2015 game. The increase was 73 percent and the game between Appalachian State and Ohio University attracted 1.9 million viewers. It was the most watched bowl game that day – the first day of bowl games, and there were six games that day. The Camellia Bowl was the sixth-most watched telecast that day.
“Just because people tune in doesn’t mean they stay on and watch, but people stayed on and watched our game,” Williams said. “When you have a stadium that is packed it looks good on TV. There was a lot of excitement.”
In addition to the jump in TV ratings:
The attendance was up about 1,100 to 21,395 in the 25,000-seat capacity stadium.
The number of corporate tailgate packages increased from about a dozen to 20-plus.
The number of people at the ESPN Zone, which is located at The Multiplex at Cramton Bowl, rose from around 400 to 550.
The activities greatly increased at FanFest, which featured displays from sponsors; entertainers similar to Cirque du Soleil; and a 40-foot-by-60-foot TV screen. Paterson Field resembled a fair, Williams said. That’s where the corporate tailgate packages were located as well as alumni tents, a stage, music, food and pep rallies.
“It was just a great tailgating experience,” Williams said. The FanFest started at noon and Williams said that there were a lot more families participating because the December 2014 game started at 8:30 pm. The second annual game between the Sun Belt and Mid-American conferences had a 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
“We are really looking forward to next year to building on (FanFest),” Williams said. “I think it adds a lot more to it being just a football game.” He said the number of people there doubled from the inaugural Camellia Bowl and he wants it “to become the place to be the day of the game.”
For the first time, private suites were offered and four were sold to businesses. There is room for three to four more in 2016, according to Williams.
With the successes of the first two years of a six-year deal, Williams expects the Camellia Bowl to continue growing. He praised title sponsor Raycom Media for “investing so much into our game outside what’s on the contract. We are so thankful for Raycom’s commitment to this game.”He said that he was not surprised by the numbers from the second annual game. “There should be (increases),” Williams said. “The first year everybody got a feel for it and now they see it …”
Almost forgot, Appalachian State, appearing in its first-ever bowl game, capped a furious fourth-quarter rally to overcome a 24-7 deficit to beat Ohio University 31-29 on a field goal on the game’s final play.
“We had a lot of things go our way,” Williams said. “The weather was great – wonderful day. We had two great football teams. The game itself turned out to be tremendous – one of the top 10 games, people are saying.”
