Heart of Dallas Bowl Benefits Local Community
When Oklahoma State takes the field against Purdue at Dallas’ storied Cotton Bowl Stadium tomorrow, the focus will be on two of major college football’s top teams and the football game they contest in the inaugural Heart of Dallas Bowl.
While the game will provide entertainment for thousands in the stadium and many more on ESPNU television throughout the country, it serves an even greater purpose for the Dallas Metroplex.
The Heart of Dallas Bowl was created just a few short months ago, designed to give back to the Dallas community through top-flight sports and entertainment events that generate awareness and funding that will help to alleviate homelessness in the Dallas area.
The bowl’s nonprofit approach was the brainchild of Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky and he joined with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany to bring the concept to life after two bowl games that didn’t capture the imagination of the Dallas community.
“The initial idea was to take the proceeds from the game and have those benefit the homeless,” said Kern Egan, principal of Haymaker, a part of Dallas creative agency, Richards Group, and a self-described innovative and accountable sports and entertainment marketing organization.
“That idea morphed into creation of an organization, Heart of Dallas, and Britton came to me and asked how we build this from a marketing and sponsorship standpoint. We have been working since August to make this about a year-around calendar of sports and entertainment events to fuel social change in our city.”
The Heart of Dallas Bowl is the kick-off of a year-long list of events that includes the Dr. Pepper Dallas Cup, a premier international youth soccer tournament slated for Cotton Bowl Stadium at the end of March.
Also on tap is the Heart of Dallas Fall Concert Series, running September 5-26 in downtown Dallas. The music series leads up to the Heart of Dallas Classic football game September 28 at the Cotton Bowl, featuring Army against Louisiana Tech at Cotton Bowl Stadium. All events will be designed to generate financial support for Dallas-area social causes while raising awareness and encouraging individuals – particularly millennials – to take on leadership roles in giving back to a variety of causes in the Metroplex.
Egan’s organization works closely with several organizations and brands to help them identify, negotiate and activate partnerships between their brands and respective properties that exist in the sports and entertainment space. An example would be Haymaker’s relationship with PlainsCapitalBank, the presenting sponsor of the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
The first year of an event offers many challenges and Egan and his team are working hard to ensure a satisfactory experience for those who are participating in the first Heart of Dallas Bowl.
“We have a ‘crawl, walk, run’ strategy. We don’t want take on too much, but what we do, we want to see executed really well,” he said. “We want to see the fans having a good time, the sponsors taken care of, the players, coaches and administrations from the schools feeling good about their experience.
“But we also want to see involvement from the community. We have given away thousands of tickets through the support of sponsors and individuals like T. Boon Pickens and we want to engage the community and have them experience the Cotton Bowl, which is an iconic venue that has been significantly updated and improved. Then we will get together next week and talk about what we did well and how we do better.”
Whether it’s Oklahoma State or Purdue who comes out on top in tomorrow’s game, the biggest winners are the Dallas Metroplex and all those that benefit from the efforts of so many to give back to community through this novel sports-and-entertainment-based approach to giving.
