Help us design the Extra Points Bowl Trophy

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

If you can believe it, we’re more than halfway done with the college football regular season. With only a few more weeks left, it’s now time to start thinking about postseason destinations.

That includes our bowl game, THE EXTRA POINTS BOWL, which will kick off on Nov 23 at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. This game will feature the top teams from D-III’s OAC and PAC that do not qualify for the NCAA Playoffs.

I dropped an update on the game a few weeks ago, which includes ticket purchasing information, sponsorship updates, and more. I have more updates to share today! Let’s start with the most important one.

WE WANT YOUR HELP IN DESIGNING THE EXTRA POINTS BOWL TROPHY

What’s a bowl game without a trophy, right? We’ve made arrangements for Extra Points Bowl champions to have access to championship rings and championship shirts, but at the end of the game, everybody wants to hoist a trophy.

We have a few ideas about the trophy, but you’re all a very creative bunch, and you probably have better ideas. Please send us those ideas before Nov 1. If we get enough great ideas, we’ll let EP subscribers vote on the best design, which we’ll turn into a trophy. If we use your design, we’ll also send you free tickets to the Extra Points Bowl, and send you a special secret Extra Points Prize Packet. New merch that has never been released to the public before?!? Perhaps!

ANYBODY can submit a design, even if you aren’t an Extra Points subscriber. A few things to consider:

• We are likely to use EDCO to manufacture our trophy. Feel free to browse through their catalog for ideas or templates for your design. We have enough time to make some custom changes to their example trophies.

• If the perfect design can’t be made from EDCO, I am a competent amateur woodworker, with access to table saws, lathes, planers, and other woodworking tools. If somebody sends a design that requires me to build in my garage with raw materials that cost under $300, I’ll give that a shot.

• I don’t expect folks to get out AUTOCAD or send me completely sketched out design ideas, although that would be awesome. Basic riffs off an EDCO idea, MS Paint, Napkin sketches, etc., are all fine.

• In case this isn’t obvious, we have two big caveats. The trophy design will need to be approved by our D-III conference partners, so no, we’re not doing to do anything lewd. We also have to stay on a budget, so I can’t promise I’ll carve out a four-foot tall statue out of Purpleheart or Sandalwood. Maybe next year.

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR TROPHY IDEAS TO [email protected] OR Tweet them to @MattBrownEP. These can be as fleshed out or half-baked as you’d like. Let the spirit be your guide.

Feel free to use our brand-new BOWL GAME LOGO in your design, which we have thanks to our newest partner in this game…HOMEFIELD APPAREL

Here’s the new logo for the bowl game:

Pretty cool, huh? You’ve got the blue and silver from the traditional Extra Points logo, the goalposts, the Green from Opendorse (our bowl series partner for this game)…the whole thing looks like a crest that could be on an alternate Brazilian Soccer jersey, which I’m sure was completely on purpose. I love it.

We have this design because our good friends from Homefield Apparel have graciously offered to become partner sponsors in the bowl game. Homefield will be providing gifts for the participating athletes, designed this awesome logo, and is adding additional support for, and during, the game.

I’m excited about this partnership, and not just because many close friends of mine work for Homefield, and their shirts represent roughly 80% of my current wardrobe. Like Extra Points, they’re a college sports company born out of the Midwest (Indiana). Like Extra Points, they care deeply about celebrating smaller schools and more niche athletic brands (I am currently wearing one of their shirts that features a surfing anteater from UC Irvine). They were one of my very first brand partners with EP, and I’m always glad to work with them again.

We are also super-duper close to announcing another beloved internet brand that is partnering to support the bowl game. I’ll let other sponsors make their announcements on their own terms, but we also have a ring company, an athletic insoles company, and at least one other athletic apparel company who will be sponsoring the event.

Do we have room for other sponsorships?

We sure do, but time is running out. The basic sponsorship package includes in-stadium signage, read-outs from the stadium PA and space to set up a tailgate tent. This package is $500, with a $1000 package (more stuff!) also available. This money does not go to Extra Points. 100% of all sponsorship money goes to pay expenses associated with the bowl game. I will, however, be happy to give a big ol’ discount on EP advertising to anybody who sponsors the bowl game.

We probably can’t accept any other athletic apparel sponsorships or NIL education sponsorships, but just about every other category still has open inventory. Shoot me a note at [email protected] and I’d be happy to help you. We’d LOVE more Ohio based businesses!

Do you have any other bowl related announcements to share?

Great question. You bet!

First, tickets to the game are currently on sale. $15 gets you a general admission ticket that is ALSO good for the NCAC vs Heartland Conference game earlier in the day. Tickets will jump to $20 bucks on November 1, so I would personally recommend you buy them now.

Second, we have filled out the right forms and made the right requests to have a military flyover for these games. I’ve also reached out to the Goodyear Blimp people. I cannot confirm that we’ll be able to pull this off, but I am cautiously optimistic we can get everything worked out with the Air Force in time to make that happen. We are fortunate to have partners with the HOF who have experience with this sort of thing, as you’d imagine, there’s a lot of paperwork involved.

And finally, yes, I have purchased my ridiculous bowl sponsor sports jacket. If the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl gets these, it’s only fair that the Extra Points Bowl should have one, right?

Will I cut a video promo once the thing gets here? Of course, I will.

Also, I must remind you that we’re able to pay to sponsor bowl games, send me on reporting trips, file for zillions of FOIAs and pay freelance writers….because of your subscriptions, your ad partnerships, and your support of Extra Points Library.

Now is an especially good time to subscribe to Library, now that Football Coach Firin’ Season has begun. If you need to know what someone’s actual buyout is, or if their contract has a special clause allowing them to leave early to take a particular gig, or which school has a larger recruiting budget…you can find all of that in our Library. Give it a spin here.

We’re getting close to crunch time for the bowl game, so expect more updates, on and off the field, in the coming days and weeks.

Hope to see you in Canton!