BBVA Compass to End Birmingham Bowl Sponsorship

BBVA Compass will end its title sponsorship of Birmingham’s college football bowl game after the 2014 BBVA Compass Bowl, bank executives said today.

Compass has elected to not renew its four-game contract with ESPN and will pursue other promotional opportunities instead, said Alan Register, the bank’s Birmingham city president.

The bank had a positive relationship with both ESPN and the city of Birmingham, but elected to not renew the contract so it could pursue sponsorship deals that provide more flexibility, Register said.

“We’re looking at a variety of different sponsorships,” he said.

Compass announced that it’s not renewing the deal eight months before the final game in an attempt to give ESPN and the city sufficient time to find a replacement, he said.

The 2013 game, in which Ole Miss beat Pittsburgh 38-17, drew an announced crowd of 59,135, the highest attendance in the BBVA Compass Bowl’s three-year history and eighth highest among all bowl games this year. The 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl drew 75,000 and the 1979 Hall of Fame Bowl drew 62,785.

BBVA Compass, which is a subsidiary of the Spanish bank BBVA, focuses on sports, education and the arts when looking for sponsorship opportunities, Register said.