Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Assistant Professor A New Mexico Bowl Founding Father
12/17/2019 8:48:00 AM | General
Chippewas' appearance in bowl game carries special meaning for Dan Ballou
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan will make its first appearance in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday when it takes on San Diego State in Albuquerque.
For one CMU faculty member, the game evokes memories and brings a measure of personal pride.
Dan Ballou, an assistant professor in CMU's Sport Management Program, played an integral role in the founding of the bowl game, which is now in its 14th year.
"Now that CMU is in the bowl game, and you helped with getting the thing started, (students) think it's pretty cooI," said Ballou, who said he uses his experiences from helping to found and then administer the bowl game in teaching his graduate-level classes at CMU. "When you think about all the bowl games that have come and gone in that time frame … There's a lot of pride that goes along with that."
Ballou served as the Director of Sports Marketing and Management with the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau (now the Albuquerque Sports Commission) from 1998-2015. He was among a half dozen members, including state and University of New Mexico officials, who spearheaded the effort to bring a bowl game to Albuquerque.
"We were kind of looking for some kind of stimulus after October but before we got into the spring," said Ballou, a Kansas native who earned his doctorate from the University of New Mexico while he lived in Albuquerque. "We had been talking about trying to get into the bowl business for some time, and this all kind of fell into place. Our jobs were to stimulate economic development for the city and the state. The bowl game helped to do that.
"There were a lot more people involved than just me, including those who are still going strong today. It was a unique deal to be involved at the ground level, to get it started. When I left there in July of 2015 it was still one of the highlights on the calendar each year."
Ballou was at the core of a group that did the heavy lifting in getting the Albuquerque community along with New Mexico business and political leaders on the same page.
In 2005, Ballou was part of a small group that went before an NCAA committee comprising some 50 members to pitch the bowl game.
"I always tell people that that was the most nervous I ever was during a presentation, in front of that group," he said. "Because they gave nothing away."
With NCAA approval, "the real work began," Ballou said, as he and his counterparts had less than a year to get their ducks in a row for the first New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 23, 2006.
"There's so many things," he said. "It's not only the creation of the game, but a creation of the whole staff – they didn't even have paper or pencils. They had to really start from scratch, and it was a huge team effort especially when you are selling something that has never happened before, you have no idea who your teams are going to be. All you have is a date and a time and the network (ESPN) that is going to air it. It was just a massive undertaking."
The bowl game has become an annual highlight for Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico, along with the city's International Balloon Fiesta in October, which annually showcases some 500 hot-air balloons.
Ballou raved about the natural beauty of Albuquerque and its environs and the great debate in Albuquerque about red chili and green chili.
"One thing (visitors are) going to see is sunshine," he said. "More than 300 days of sunshine a year in New Mexico. The top of the mountains, the arid climate; even if it's cooler, in the sun it feels a whole lot better than Michigan cold. Plenty of blue skies, high skies. The different cultures, Native American and Hispanic. It's a very unique place."
For one CMU faculty member, the game evokes memories and brings a measure of personal pride.
Dan Ballou, an assistant professor in CMU's Sport Management Program, played an integral role in the founding of the bowl game, which is now in its 14th year.
"Now that CMU is in the bowl game, and you helped with getting the thing started, (students) think it's pretty cooI," said Ballou, who said he uses his experiences from helping to found and then administer the bowl game in teaching his graduate-level classes at CMU. "When you think about all the bowl games that have come and gone in that time frame … There's a lot of pride that goes along with that."
Ballou served as the Director of Sports Marketing and Management with the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau (now the Albuquerque Sports Commission) from 1998-2015. He was among a half dozen members, including state and University of New Mexico officials, who spearheaded the effort to bring a bowl game to Albuquerque.
"We were kind of looking for some kind of stimulus after October but before we got into the spring," said Ballou, a Kansas native who earned his doctorate from the University of New Mexico while he lived in Albuquerque. "We had been talking about trying to get into the bowl business for some time, and this all kind of fell into place. Our jobs were to stimulate economic development for the city and the state. The bowl game helped to do that.
"There were a lot more people involved than just me, including those who are still going strong today. It was a unique deal to be involved at the ground level, to get it started. When I left there in July of 2015 it was still one of the highlights on the calendar each year."
Ballou was at the core of a group that did the heavy lifting in getting the Albuquerque community along with New Mexico business and political leaders on the same page.
In 2005, Ballou was part of a small group that went before an NCAA committee comprising some 50 members to pitch the bowl game.
"I always tell people that that was the most nervous I ever was during a presentation, in front of that group," he said. "Because they gave nothing away."
With NCAA approval, "the real work began," Ballou said, as he and his counterparts had less than a year to get their ducks in a row for the first New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 23, 2006.
"There's so many things," he said. "It's not only the creation of the game, but a creation of the whole staff – they didn't even have paper or pencils. They had to really start from scratch, and it was a huge team effort especially when you are selling something that has never happened before, you have no idea who your teams are going to be. All you have is a date and a time and the network (ESPN) that is going to air it. It was just a massive undertaking."
The bowl game has become an annual highlight for Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico, along with the city's International Balloon Fiesta in October, which annually showcases some 500 hot-air balloons.
Ballou raved about the natural beauty of Albuquerque and its environs and the great debate in Albuquerque about red chili and green chili.
"One thing (visitors are) going to see is sunshine," he said. "More than 300 days of sunshine a year in New Mexico. The top of the mountains, the arid climate; even if it's cooler, in the sun it feels a whole lot better than Michigan cold. Plenty of blue skies, high skies. The different cultures, Native American and Hispanic. It's a very unique place."
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