Categories: News
      Date: Dec 11, 2012
     Title: Gildan New Mexico Bowl Goes Green

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- For the third consecutive year, the Gildan New Mexico Bowl and ESPN are upping sustainability efforts to create awareness and educate the fans and participating teams about  some easy steps to help the environment.

New this year to the Fan Fest entertainment in the North Stadium parking lot beginning at 8 a.m., the ESPN Green Team is welcoming tailgaters to bring 10 plastic grocery bags to the Environmentality Tent where they can trade them for one ESPN reusable grocery bag. All plastic bags collected will be recycled.

The popular bean bag toss challenge is back to educate fans about recycling and composting, and give them an opportunity to win eco-friendly prizes such as sunglasses made from 98% recycled plastic, and ESPN reusable grocery bags. Since its inception over 15,000 sports fans across the country have had the opportunity to participate in the challenge.

There will also be a t-shirt recycling program at Fan Fest and on the North concourse during the game. People are encouraged to bring an old t-shirt or sweatshirt from home. They will then have the option to have that shirt “upgraded”, free of charge, with a new silk screen image created with environment-friendly ink.

“This program is a wonderful piece of our bowl week,” said Jeff Siembieda, Gildan New Mexico Bowl Executive Director.  “This event is about a whole lot more than a football game and the fact that ESPN is able to bring this world class project to New Mexico is great.  It’s nice to see this grow every year and I hope more and more fans get to take advantage of it.”

In addition, the Bowl staff and teams are doing their part. All lanyards on team and media passes are made from recycled plastic bottles, a portion of which were collected from past ESPN events.

The seventh annual Gildan New Mexico Bowl will kick off the collegiate bowl season for the fourth straight year, pitting Nevada against Arizona. Kickoff from University Stadium in Albuquerque, is slated for Saturday, Dec. 15, airing on ESPN, ESPN 3D and ESPN Radio at 11 a.m. MST (1 p.m. EST). The game will be also available on computers at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.