Rapper’s delight: Snoop sponsors Arizona Bowl

Last updated: 2024/05/07 at 1:11 AM

BigP Published May 7, 2024

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterMay 6, 2024, 01:16 PM ET
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- College football reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
- Graduate of Northwestern University.

Snoop Dogg is getting into the college football bowl business with a historic sponsorship that recognizes his 1993 hit song and recent beverage line with Dr. Dre, “Gin & Juice.”

The rapper on Monday revealed the new Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, announcing his intent “to bring the juice back to college football.” The game, previously sponsored by Barstool Sports, will take place Dec. 28 in Tucson, Arizona, and pair teams from the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences.

The partnership marks the first with an alcohol product as the presenting sponsor of an NCAA-sanctioned bowl game. In February, the new beverage company introduced “Gin & Juice” as their first ready-to-drink product — a nod to Snoop Dogg’s hit from the album “Doggystyle,” produced by Dr. Dre and Death Row Records.

“The Arizona Bowl is bringing sports, libations and entertainment into a singular bowl game, and we are changing the definition of what a brand partnership is in the NCAA,” Kym Adair, executive director of the Arizona Bowl, said in a statement.

PlayFly Premier Partnerships, a sports media and marketing company that has worked with the Arizona Bowl since 2021, finalized the agreement between Snoop Dogg and the bowl game.

“College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk around NIL, conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences, so it’s time that we get back to the roots of college football,” Snoop Dogg said in announcing the partnership on social media. “When it was focused on the colleges, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry. … So it’s only fitting that I step up and get this thing right.”

Snoop Dogg has long been involved in football, launching the Snoop Youth Football League in 2005 and often attending USC practices and games. His son Cordell Broadus initially signed to play wide receiver at UCLA but ended up stepping away from the sport.