The Meineke Car Care Bowl Gives Fans a Great Experience

This year I saw the Meineke Car Care Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game matches a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference versus one from the Big East Conference. In my game, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons from the ACC rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to post a 24-10 victory.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl has roots back to 2002, when it started as the Queen City Bowl. It picked up a tire manufacturer as its title sponsor and was known as the Continental Tire Bowl before Meineke took over the rights in 2006.

While the name does not roll off the tongue like the Rose Bowl or the Orange Bowl, the Meineke Car Care bowl has produced some exciting games in its brief history. The 2006 game came down to the last play, as a 37-yard field goal lifted Boston College to a 25-24 win over Navy. The ACC has owned the Meineke Car Care Bowl, winning five of the six contests.

Bowl games serve as a reward for teams that finished with good seasons. They also serve as a reward for the fan bases of the respective schools, giving loyal supporters a good excuse to go out of town during the holidays. One of the most important contributing factors for picking teams for a bowl game is the school's reputation for bringing fans to an event. If two teams have similar records but one school consistently brings 25,000 fans to bowl games that team will likely get the nod.

The University of Connecticut and its fans had an excellent showing for the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Despite not being a major bowl in a holiday hot spot, the University of Connecticut sold out its allotment of 12,000 tickets. Meanwhile, Wake Forest, located about 90 minutes away in Winston-Salem, sold over 20,000 tickets before the university stopped taking orders.

Like many areas of the country, the piedmont area of North Carolina suffered a terrible drought during 2007. Most cities in the region were between 10 and 20 inches below normal rainfall totals. So, it was a mixed blessing when rain hit the area the day before the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

There were scattered showers the day of the game and a light mist was falling outside of the stadium prior to the contest. The rain did not really affect the game, but it did curtail tailgating somewhat. Bank of America Stadium is located in the heart of Charlotte and does not have a sprawling parking lot like many facilities do. People are scattered in numerous nearby lots, which hurts the tailgating aspect, too.

However, there were several people who had tents set up and who were grilling out. It was much more of a food-based scene than an alcohol-based one, although the 1:00 PM start contributed greatly to that.

Wake Forest fans seemed to outnumber Connecticut fans by much more than the 2:1 margin suggested by ticket sales by the universities. Undoubtedly the game being in North Carolina led many area fans to come to the game without a ticket. There was an active market buying and selling tickets, and fans were allowed to conduct transactions of this type without any hassle from law enforcement.

Most fans came dressed in school colors, but I did not notice anyone dressing in a crazy, over-the-top fashion.

There were plenty of outside activities leading up to the Meineke Car Care Bowl for out-of-town fans. Official activities included visits to NASCAR racetrack Lowe's Motor Speedway and the RBC Centura Street Festival at the Square, among others.

But the highlight for visiting Connecticut fans was an NBA game between the Charlotte Bobcats and New Orleans Hornets. The Bobcats feature former Connecticut star Emeka Okafor and chants for UConn and Okafor broke out throughout the contest.

Paid attendance for the Meineke Car Care Bowl was 53,126 although the rainy weather caused some fans to come dressed as empty seats. Connecticut fans had plenty to cheer about in the opening half and the majority of the crowd had ample opportunities to cheer for Wake Forest during its second-half comeback.

Most banners in the stands were typical "get me on ESPN" creations. The only one that stood out was a fan who held up a sign which said, "In Grobe We Trust". The sign was a reference to Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, who earlier in the month turned down the Arkansas job to remain in Winston-Salem.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl featured a hard-fought game between two up-and-coming football programs. It was a fan-friendly environment, one in which it was very safe to bring children. It was a very well run event and I experienced absolutely no problems at any point in the day. I would encourage anyone whose favorite school gets picked to play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl next year to attend the event.

Sources

Wikipedia: Meineke Car Care Bowl history

UConnHuskies.com: Huskies Sell Out Meineke Car Care Bowl Ticket Allotment

WakeForestSports: Wake Forest Sells Out of Meineke Car Care Bowl Tickets