- Duke’s Mayonnaise is the title sponsor of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl scheduled for Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on December 30.
- The bowl features a ‘battle of the Carolinas’ as the North Carolina Tar Heels take on the South Carolina Gamecocks.
- Duke’s Mayonnaise has announced that they’ll donate $10,000 to the winning team’s charity of choice–contingent on the coach of the team getting a ‘mayonnaise bath’ after the game.
If you’re someone that enjoys betting on the ‘what color Gatorade’ prop that shows up at every sportsbook this time of year you’re going to love this. You’ve probably watched a coach take a celebratory Gatorade shower and said to yourself ‘this is great, but I still think it could be better’. No longer will you need to lament that there’s a certain something missing from the now iconic Gatorade shower–at least for one bowl game. Spoiler alert: there’s mayonnaise involved.
From 2011 through 2019, there was a annual college football bowl game played in Charlotte, NC called the Belk Bowl. The naming sponsor during this time was Belk, a once major Southern department store that has fallen upon hard times. Hamstrung by the overall implosion of the ‘brick and mortar’ retail segment and a seriously suspect product mix Belk was life and death to survive for awhile. Earlier this year, they completed a one day structured bankruptcy filing that gave them a temporary lifeline. Their long term viability remains to be seen–they’re woefully behind the curve in their online ordering capabilities and as of yet there hasn’t been a visible improvement in their product offerings or the shopping experience in their retail stores.
In 2019, Belk opted out of their contract to sponsor the aforementioned bowl game. Not long after, the sponsorship was picked up by another long running Southern company, this one downright iconic and in dramatically better financial shape. Thus the game became known as the Duke Mayo Bowl. If you’ve ever spent time in the south you know what Duke’s Mayonnaise. If not, here’s the press release blurb:
Duke’s Mayonnaise celebrated 100 years of its bold and palate-thrilling presence in southern cuisine in 2017. In addition to the five new regionally inspired Duke’s Southern Sauces and Duke’s Real Mayonnaise (still made according to Eugenia Duke’s original recipe), the brand offers light mayonnaise, mayonnaise with olive oil, tartar sauce and sandwich relish.) For more information, please visit www.dukesmayo.com.
Duke’s Mayonnaise is owned by Sauer Brands, Inc., which was founded as The C.F. Sauer Company in 1887 in Richmond, VA. Today, the company produces a broad line of inspired flavors to excite and delight consumers in the condiments, spices, seasonings and extracts categories. The company’s manufacturing facilities include locations in Richmond, Virginia; Greenville, South Carolina; New Century, Kansas; San Luis Obispo, California, and Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Besides Duke’s Mayonnaise, the company’s brands include The Spice Hunter, Sauer’s, Gold Medal, BAMA, Kernel Seasons, and Tasty Shakes. Sauer Brands also produces high quality private label products for the retail and food service channels. Learn more at www.sauerbrands.com
All of that aside, it really is good mayonnaise and my preferred brand. This year’s Duke Mayo Bowl is set for December 30 and features a ‘battle of the Carolinas’ matchup between the South Carolina Gamecocks and North Carolina Tar Heels. And what do you do if you’re a company that makes mayonnaise and are sponsoring a bowl game? That’s right–you do whatever is necessary to make sure that the winning coach gets doused in mayo instead of the traditional Gatorade. To create even more favorable conditions for the mayonnaise bath they’ve added a stipulation–$10,000 to the winning team’s charity of choice. The 10 G’s for charity is, of course, contingent upon the coach of the winning team submitting to a mayo bath. This has nothing to do with the mayo bath, but Duke’s is also offering a NIL (name, image, likeness) deal for a player on the winning team that will put $5,000 in his pocket.
Thanks to the motivation of a charitable contribution and a fair amount of media coverage it now looks like the mayonnaise will flow freely after the game. Head coach Mack Brown of North Carolina and his South Carolina counterpart Shane Beamer have reportedly both agreed to the terms. It would be very difficult for either to weasel out of taking the mayonnaise bath now–not only is it a bad look for a coach he’d get eaten alive by the media for denying a charity a decent contribution.
