EA Sports added as corporate sponsor

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 10:06 a.m.

If the Las Vegas Bowl's new title sponsor is any indication, whatever college football fans are looking for should be "In the Game."

On Tuesday, Las Vegas Bowl officials announced that EA Sports, one of the world's leading interactive entertainment software companies, will join the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) as the co-title sponsor for the event.

"We've supported the NCAA and NCAA athletics for a number of years through our products and we're excited to be a title sponsor for this event," said EA Sports senior product manager Munir Haddad, whose company is known for developing sports games for personal computers and video game systems, including the popular John Madden titles and "NCAA Football 2000."

This year's eighth annual Las Vegas Bowl will be played Saturday, Dec. 18 at UNLV's newly remodeled Sam Boyd Stadium. The game will feature the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champion and the second-place team from the new Mountain West Conference (MWC).

"We're sure when the kids in the WAC and the Mountain West know EA Sports is a title sponsor, they'll be playing NCAA 2000 to try to figure out who's going to play in this game," said Haddad, whose company has signed a two-year agreement with the Las Vegas Bowl.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said his conference is looking forward to matching up with the Mountain West representative, given the MWC is comprised of eight former WAC schools who bolted from the WAC to form a new league.

"That rivalry started about a year ago, and it will culminate on December 19," Benson said. "The WAC is poised and ready to be a part of this."

Bret Gilliland, associate commissioner for the MWC, said his conference is excited to be part of this year's event, particularly in light of the new sponsor.

"EA Sports is cutting edge in terms of sports technology, and we're trying to be cutting edge as a new conference so we think it's a perfect partnership," Gilliland said. "We're very excited about what possible teams could come here."

Tickets for this year's Las Vegas Bowl went on sale Tuesday and can be ordered by calling Ticket.com at 888-464-2468 or the Thomas & Mack box office at 895-3900.

"Our goal is to sell all the tickets at the new remodeled Sam Boyd Stadium," said Rossi Ralenkotter, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl and vice president of marketing for the LVCVA. "We believe it's going to be a great matchup."