Tostitos Runs Bowl Race for Longhorn, Buckeye Fans
Tostitos upped the ante on the rivalry between the University of Texas and Ohio State in the run-up to Monday night’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl with a contest between students from each school for a $100,000 general scholarship fund contribution to the winning team’s school.
The “Race to the Bowl” pitted six students from each school against each other in a series of challenges starting in New York City on New Year’s Eve, and culminating in a football obstacle course race in Glendale, AZ, on the eve of the big game.
A two-minute TV spot during tonight’s game between the Longhorns and the Buckeyes will present clips from the contest. The winning team will be announced at halftime.
“We’ve always been inspired by the ultimate fan, the ones who paint their faces,” said Chris Kuechenmeister, spokesman for Frito-Lay, Tostitos parent company. “The vast majority of these fans probably never had an opportunity to go to a bowl game like this, so the truest, bluest fans have the opportunity to go to the Fiesta Bowl and share a once in a lifetime opportunity to give back to their schools.”
Tostitos started the contest on Facebook last month, inviting fans from schools that were likely candidates for the Fiesta Bowl to submit essays about what qualified them as their school team’s ultimate fan. After the competing schools were revealed, Tostitos reviewed more than 1,000 entries and interviewed prospective candidates.
On New Year’s Eve, the six students from each school completed an initial football-throwing contest in a tie. They then sang their respective school songs in Times Square, soliciting “tips” from passers-by to determine the winner.
They were then to be flown home to their respective school’s locales to see which team could recruit the most local fans to have their faces painted in their schools’ colors.
A football competition in Las Vegas followed that, with the obstacle course in Glendale as the final test. Teams winning each phase of the challenge won 15-second deductions from their finishing times in the obstacle course race.
And the result will be an amusing Fiesta Bowl interlude, and a boost to one school’s scholarship chest.
