BOISE, Idaho -- In a three-year deal, truckstop marketing network Roady's Truck Stops has signed on as the new sponsor of the Boise college football bowl game played each December in Bronco Stadium at Boise State University. The game will now be known as the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl, said KTVB-TV.
The bowl, this year to be played on December 31, has previously been sponsored by Micron subsidiary Crucial.com, and MPC Computers, the report said.
Roady's is a great fit, said Milford Terrell, chairman of the Humanitarian Bowl. They [image-nocss] are a local company that brings great energy and enthusiasm for our bowl and a geographic footprint that mirrors that of the ACC [Atlantic Coast Conference] and WAC [Western Athletic Conference].
Kelly Rhinehart, president of New Plymouth, Idaho-based Roady's, told the news outlet, We are extremely pleased to become the new title sponsor of the Humanitarian Bowl. Not only is it an honor to be associated with the WAC and ACC college football programs, but also with the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.
The deal to sponsor the bowl runs from 2007 through 2009, which matches the latest contracts with ESPN, the WAC and ACC.
Rhinehart, Roady's chairman Scott Moscrip and project manager Mike Knee announced the three-year title sponsorship last week at a press conference, added a report by The Argus Observer.
The sponsorship is a good deal for both BSU and Roady's Truck Stops, and the humanitarian link is a fitting theme for the travel business, Knee told the newspaper.
We want to be able to bring a positive light on the trucking industry because of some of the humanitarian things that the industry does. There are a lot of truckers out on the road and they do a lot of amazing things, Knee said, citing examples of the annual Goodyear North American Highway Hero award recipients.
You hear about those kinds of stories all the time. We're hoping to get Goodyear to bring their Highway Hero finalists to Boise to participate in the activities of bowl week, he added.
Moscrip and Rhinehart created Roady's Truck Stops by merging two of the largest truckstop marketing groups in the countryGreat Savings Network and Truckstop Directon Jan. 1, 2007.
Roady's was started because the truckstop industry is a very mature industry, Moscrip told the paper. You have basically five chains that dominate the industry, but the challenge is that those five chains only represent 25% of the industry.
That power dynamic left the independent truckstops with higher prices, Moscrip said, so around 15 years ago, the independent businesses formed marketing groups for greater product buying power, but those marketing companies stalled when they refused to combine.
Because they couldn't come together, Kelly Rhinehart and myself decided we would create a new company and bring them all together under one banner, Moscrip said. So in January of this year, we combined two of those groups, and combined they were bigger than the largest truckstop chain out there, which is Pilot. With that nucleus formed, we've now gone out and we're working to bring in other independent truckstops.
Roady's negotiates with dealersfor such items as beverages, snacks and candyto find the best deal; however, the business does not own individual truckstops, but acts more like a franchise operation, Knee said.
Roady's is the brand name; they all come under this one umbrella, but we don't own the bricks and stones, he said. But because of the volume of business Roady's represents, that huge opportunity in buying power, we're able to contract with dealers for better prices for the individual sites.
Each Roady's will be marked with the individual truckstop title and with the Roady's Truck Stops logo shield. We hope people will see that blue shield and know it's a Roady's, Knee said. When I started here in March, there were 320 truckstops. Not there's close to 400 in the United States and Canada.
With the creation of the new business, Moscrip and Rhinehart then considered marketing strategies, and Moscrip said they chose the Humanitarian Bowl because it has a national audience and benefits the local community. I just feel fortunate to be involved, Knee said. I think it's very rewarding for the community to think that two of their local boysScott Moscrip is from New Plymouth and Kelly (Rhinehart) is from Fruitlandhave done all this. I think people should be very proud of what these two have accomplished, and also that they're willing to give back to their community.
Click here to view a news report on the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl on the company's website.
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