Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

Heather Houston,  Executive Director, Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas
(opening remarks) “Thanks so much, everyone, for showing up today. Thanks especially to the local media. You all have been so supportive of us over the last five years and we certainly appreciate you showing up again today. Thanks also to the many members of the Texas Bowl Board of Directors in the room. Without your guidance and leadership, today would not be possible. I hope this is a very proud moment for all of you. We look forward to many more successful years with all of you together.

“As most of you know in this room, we’ve miraculously been operating without a title sponsor for the last five years. In fact, we were one of only two bowls without a title sponsor this past year. Despite that, we’ve had some amazing successes which most of you that follow our bowl know about. Our attendance numbers have always ranked us at the top of the collegiate bowl world. We’ve averaged 62,000 fans, which last year ranked us fifth amongst all of the non-BCS bowl games, which is pretty miraculous. A big part of that attendance number reflects the local support that we have received from this community. Last year we sold over 30,000 seats prior to team announcement, which just shows you how much the community has embraced this bowl game and we’re so thankful for the community’s support.

“Our TV ratings have grown year after year. It’s been pretty miraculous. We’ve experienced a pretty decent jump when we moved from the NFL Network to ESPN, so thanks to all of you at ESPN for that. I’m not going to tell you what the jump was. It’s sort of embarrassing. Last year, we realized a 26% increase in ratings. We were one of only nine bowl games to show an increase last year. Our TV ratings have continued to go up which is great for us and great for our partners at ESPN.

“We have also been able to significantly impact this community. Not only have we provided really wonderful economic impact on an annual basis for the city of Houston, around $25 million on an annual basis, which is pretty significant for the city, we’ve also been able to directly help children and families in need through our partnership with DePelchin Children’s Center. To date, we’ve dated $305,000 and we’re actually going to make our announcement next week of our 2011 donation.

“Again, we’ve had a lot of successes over the past five years. All of the pieces of the puzzle are in place to make sure that Houston has one of the best bowl games in the country. One major piece was missing and that’s what we’re here to announce today. This is such an exciting day for the Texas Bowl. Here to make the official announcement and tell you a little more about it is Mr. Pete Derzis, the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of ESPN Regional Television.”

Pete Derzis, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, ESPN Regional Television
(opening remarks) “Thank you. On behalf of ESPN, the Houston Texans, Lone Star Sports and Entertainment and our Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to announce that Meineke Car Care will serve as our title sponsor for the next three years. The game is going to be rebranded the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.

“In a few moments, we’ll have a formal display, so you can get a sense of what the logo will look like. It’s an exciting day for us. I want to thank everybody that collectively worked to make this happen. It’s especially gratifying to have Meineke involved as they have been in the collegiate world as a major sponsor of college football. They are experienced in bowl entitlements. They have been a great friend to college football and to our company at ESPN.

“In a moment, you’ll hear from Ken Walker, but we knew from those negotiations the fact that he’s a Texan at heart and he knows what college football, we thought this was a great fit and we’re excited that he and his staff agreed to serve as a title sponsor. It’s also especially gratifying to know that Meineke was founded right here in Houston. It’s coming back home. With that, I’d like to introduce you to the CEO of Driven Brands, Mr. Ken Walker.”

Ken Walker, Chairman and CEO, Driven Brands
(opening remarks) “Well first off, thank you all for being here. Meineke is incredibly excited about this opportunity. It starts with our franchisees. I’ve got a huge number of franchisees in the room. Hold your hands up. Thank y’all. This is the group that actually funds the bowl. We end up being a conduit, but it’s advertising dollars. It’s what we’re trying to do is create advertising awareness.

“Pete told you that we were founded here. Sam Meineke and Sadie Meineke - Sam founded the company in 1971. Raise your hand Sam. Say hi to the folks. Sam founded the company in ’71 and started franchising it in ’72. Our very first franchisee went to Jean Kennedy. Her son-in-law is here with us today, still operating stores. He’s been up to as many as 16 or 17 shops at some time, so thank y’all as well. As I’ve said, we have a number of franchisees here and we’re thankful for all of them. I think the very fact that they showed up in numbers here today talks to the excitement that the Meineke family has to be part of this bowl game.

“We have been in the bowl business for some time as sponsors. We understand the value out of our franchisee love of college football. We love college football. Two conferences are represented here, the Big 12 and the Big 10 - or is that the Big 10 and the Big 12? Anyway, the big 22, the number is right, right? 40% of all of the Meinekes are in the footprint of those two conferences, so it makes it a pretty significant number. We’ve got in the neighborhood of 1,000 shops someplace in the U.S., along with seven other countries. The huge preponderance are here in the United States and are represented 40% inside the footprint. Just as college football has lots of loyal fans, we want to try and play on that loyal fan base and get them into our Meineke Centers.

“One other small factor, the state of Texas has 65 Meineke shops in it. The very fact that the bowl is coming back home where Sam started the company is, I think, a significant fact. It is the largest state in terms of Meineke stores. We think this will be great fun. We’re excited about it.

“The three rating, 3.06 or something, is a significant number. That means three million households saw the game. That’s a lot of people watching the game. The way that you will brand the bowl game will end up everybody that happens to tune in will see it about 25 or 30 times, the Meineke name, so it’s a significant relationship.

“Speaking of significant relationships, it’s why we made a three year commitment. Its why were stepped up right from the start. We did not say ‘Let’s try it and put our foot in the water.’ We’ve done that before. We understand the value of bowl games and we’re excited about being a part of the Houston community. We’re excited about being part of the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. Thank y’all very much.”

Q&A - Heather Houston
(on how important it is for a bowl game to have a title sponsor) “It’s very critical. Again, we were only one of two bowls who didn’t have one this past year. It really guarantees the long term sustainability of the bowl game. In the bowl business, it really is a key piece to the puzzle. It ensures that you’re able to do everything that you want to do as a bowl. You make sure that the teams are having a great experience. You can make sure that you’re driving economic impact getting the fans in town and being able to treat them in a really great way once they get here. To make sure that we’re going to continue to be able to donate to DePelchin Children’s Center. Not only that, but it also helps enhance the image of the bowl game tremendously and because of the strong reach of Meineke, for the first time, we’re going to be able to brand this game using their national platform like we’ve never been able to do before. It’s very critical and a very important piece and something that we’re really looking forward to. We just know that it’s only going to help all of us build this bowl and make it better for the city of Houston in the future.”

(on if a date has been set for the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas yet) “No we do not. TBD.”

Pete Derzis
(on if there is any possibility of a shifting of conference affiliations with the bowl game) “We have a four-year contract, so we’ve included the first year with both the Big 12 and the Big 10. The NCAA Licensing Committee structured everything in a four-year plan a year ago April. We’re very happy and satisfied with where we are for the next three. After that, we’ll make our decisions based on opportunity.”