Snoop Dogg's 'Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop' drink takes over as Arizona Bowl sponsor

The newest title sponsor for the Arizona Bowl, a college football bowl game held at Arizona Stadium on the University of Arizona campus over the last decade, is a dog — and not just any dog. It's the D-O-Double-G.

Rapper, entrepreneur and spokesperson Snoop Dogg and his alcoholic drink brand "Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop," co-founded by hip-hop producer and artist Dr. Dre and named after the duo's popular 1990s hit, is the latest sponsor of the Arizona Bowl. Snoop Dogg and the Arizona Bowl announced their collaboration Monday.

The Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice is the latest rendition of Tucson's bowl game, after media outlet Barstool Sports sponsored and streamed the game on its digital platforms for the last three years. The Arizona Bowl, played in late December, features teams from the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences.

The Arizona Bowl is on Saturday, Dec. 28 at Arizona Stadium. Details surrounding the Arizona Bowl's television broadcast will be announced at a later date. Arizona Bowl executive director Kym Adair noted Snoop Dogg will be a color commentator for the game broadcast. 

"Who's not going to want to watch Snoop in the booth broadcast our game? It's going to bring a lot of viewers and eyeballs like we've never seen before," Adair said. 

In front of roughly 100 Arizona bowl staffers, Tucson public figures, elected officials, University of Arizona employees and invited guests in the luxury suites of Arizona Stadium's press box, Adair, Arizona Bowl chairman Ali Farhang, Death Row Pictures president Sarah Ramaker, Gin & Juice chief strategy officer Andrew Gill and CEO Patrick Halbert signed a black vinyl record — the bowl game's version of a contract — with the bowl game's logo emblazoned in the middle. After the collection of silver and gold signatures were Sharpied on the vinyl record, the Arizona Bowl partners and attendees toasted with Gin & Juice. 

"When we first contacted Sarah and Snoop about this crazy idea to create the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, they immediately understood how this partnership could bring life to Snoop's passions of music, football and youth sports all in one centralized event," Adair said. "Without their ability to think creatively and be open to define convention, we would not be here today." 

Later added Adair: "We knew to get this right and to do something totally transformative. We needed one more partner to join us on this ride, and that was Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop, a brand-new, ready-to-drink canned beverage that was launched at the Super Bowl in February." 

In a video posted on his social media channels, which has a combined following of just over 180 million across Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok, Snoop Dogg said, "College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk of NIL (name, image, likeness), conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences."

"So it's time we get back to the roots of college football, when it was focused on the colleges, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry," he said. "Being a fan (and) coach, supporter of all levels of the game, I've sent many players through my (Snoop Youth Football League) through colleges and the NFL. 

"It's only fitting that I step up and help get this thing right. I'm ready to bring the juice back to college football, and I'm taking my talents to, that's right, Arizona. Believe me, Arizona, baby. ... I'll be there, will you be there? Guess what? I'll see you there."

The Arizona Bowl's multi-year contract with Snoop Dogg is the latest bowl game to feature a celebrity as a title sponsor. Other celebrity sponsors in recent bowl history include former Arizona Wildcat Rob Gronkowski and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel with the L.A. Bowl. It's also the first college bowl game to have an alcohol company as the title sponsor, which is fitting for the Arizona Bowl since it was the first event to serve alcohol at Arizona Stadium.  

"We're doing something that bowl games have never done before, which is the intersection of music, entertainment, libations and college football all together in one spot in a way that's never been activated before," Adair said.   

Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, hinted his connection to Tucson and the bowl game by posting on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, "I'm taking my talents (to) Arizona," while tagging first-year Arizona football coach Brent Brennan.

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Besides hosting concerts in Tucson over the years, Snoop Dogg has also brought youth football teams from Los Angeles to Arizona to face local teams in the Old Pueblo. In 2015, the "Snoop Dogg All-Stars" youth football team faced the Tucson Rams at Tucson High; Snoop Dogg attended the UA's home loss to UCLA that weekend. A SYFL team will travel to Arizona the week of the bowl game for a showcase with a local Arizona team at Arizona Stadium. 

The Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop beverage, a canned gin-based cocktail, launched earlier this year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Snoop Dogg's breakthrough album "Doggystyle." The beverage has four flavors: apricot, citrus, melon and passionfruit.

The Arizona Bowl said that throughout the years, it has generated close to $150 million in economic impact in Southern Arizona. Farhang said the Arizona Bowl has donated over $6 million to local charities. Since 2019, the bowl game is parlayed with a New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Tucson, also called "Pachanga Week," where a giant taco is dropped at midnight to ring in the new year.   

"Since the inception of the Arizona Bowl, it's been about more than just a football game," Farhang said Monday. "It's about our community and it's really been led by four core values: bringing our community together with the communities of participating schools, because communities that celebrate together, they thrive together. Showcasing the brilliance and beauty of Tucson and Southern Arizona — and this beautiful university, the University of Arizona. We want to highlight in front of the world what we have here and let everybody know."  

Farhang added, "This is the biggest sports-meets-pop culture event ever in Tucson, and I think we showed once again that we have a great community where anything is possible and achievable. It’s simply immense.

"We have partners that really share our values in so many ways. This collaboration places a rocket ship on those values that's capable traversing the deepest horizons," he said. "I'll be honest, our independence as a bowl game hasn't always been easy, but it does allow us to be creative and think in the biggest terms." 

The Arizona Bowl was sponsored by Nova Home Loans for the first five years when it started in 2015. Offerpad was the bowl game's sponsor for one season in 2020, when San Jose State, led by current Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, lost to Ball State in the pandemic-influenced game that had no fans in attendance. Barstool Sports took over sponsorship in 2021, and due to the controversial background of the media outlet's founder, Dave Portnoy, the Pima County Board of Supervisors pulled its $40,000 in funding support for the game.

Although Snoop Dogg, a globally popular hip-hop figure, has songs with explicit lyrics, "Snoop Dogg is an American icon and businessman." 

"He's the voice and face of the NBC Olympics coverage this summer. He's doing the opening and closing ceremonies, he's doing all of the athlete interviews," Adair said. "He's a spokesperson for major brands, he's on a lot of television shows, he's in movies, he's a personality of pop culture, he's ubiquitous. Snoop is the man. I'm excited to have him on board."  

The Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl drew more than 1.1 million viewers on its CW Network broadcast last season, when Wyoming edged Toledo on a walk-off field goal; that game was the third-most watched telecast for the network in the last two years.

Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment at The CW Network, said, "The CW's first college bowl game in network history served as the centerpiece of eight straight hours of live sports programming."

“Live sports continue to set new ratings milestones for The CW, reinforcing the reach of broadcast television and establishing the network as a premiere destination for free, high-quality games that appeal to all sports fans," Schwartz said.

Entering the bowl game's 10-year anniversary, partnering with Snoop Dogg "brings the game to a whole new national stature," Adair said.

"It's awesome for our community and for all the fans that are going to come here and sell out Arizona Stadium, we hope, and for all the people that are going to stay in our hotels and eat at our restaurants. It's going to give us exposure in a whole new level. ... It has a huge impact on Southern Arizona — and this is why we do it."