Thirty years ago, Snoop Dogg was sipping on gin and juice, with his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
These days, the Long Beach-based rapper and business man is running a company that sells gin and juice products, with his mind apparently on college football.
Introducing the newly renamed “Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop,” which will take place Dec. 28 in Tucson, Ariz.
“College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk around NIL, conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences,” Snoop Dogg said in a video posted Monday on his social media accounts. “So it’s time we get back to the roots of college football, what it was focused on — the colleges, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry.”
Held at Arizona Stadium, home of the Arizona Wildcats, the bowl started in 2015 and has been tied to the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences since 2020. Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop is a ready-to-drink, gin-based canned product from the new premium spirits company launched earlier this year by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, a rapper, producer and business mogul.
With a name inspired by “Gin & Juice,” the 1994 single by Snoop Dogg and produced by Dr. Dre, the company is the first alcohol brand to serve as a title sponsor for an NCAA bowl game.
“Snoop’s passions for supporting youth football, college football and music completely aligned with things we were already doing and joining forces meant that we could elevate the entire Bowl experience together,” Arizona Bowl executive director Kym Adair told The Times in an email Tuesday. “In fact, three players from his SYFL (Snoop Youth Football League) currently play at the University of Arizona, where we play our game.
“We also quickly recognized that we shared the desire to highlight the joy and pageantry that accompanies the celebration of college football through our bowl game and what it means to the players, the participating universities, our community, and the fans.”
The multi-year agreement with Snoop Dogg and his company comes as the previous three-year deal with Barstool Sports as the event’s title sponsor comes to an end.
“We had a fantastic run with Barstool Sports,” Adair said. “They were everything we had hoped they would be and more and will forever be a part of the fabric of our game.”
That partnership was seen as controversial by some. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has made numerous comments considered to be misogynistic or racist. Portnoy has also been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women; he has denied all of those allegations.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to withdraw its $40,000 funding for the Arizona Bowl in 2021. Adair said her company hasn’t spoken with the county about funding at this point.
Snoop Dogg isn’t exactly the most clean-cut guy either.
Much of his music contains offensive language. He has admitted to a past as a pimp and having gang ties. In 1996, he was acquitted of first- and second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a gang member three years earlier.
But Snoop’s image has taken a softer turn over the years. He’s funny, friendly and extremely easy going. He’s known as Coach Snoop to the hundreds of inner-city kids who have participated in his nonprofit youth football league since 2005.
And he’s seemingly everywhere.
“Snoop is an American music icon, a successful businessman, a pop-culture phenomenon, the face of the Olympics on NBC this Summer, a brand ambassador for huge companies and someone that loves football so much that he started his own youth football league (SYFL) to serve young athletes in California,” Adair said. “He is ubiquitous.”
Adair added, “We have only heard positive reviews of our new partnership.”
A number of events will take place tied to the event, including a Snooper Bowl featuring youth teams from Arizona and California. Snoop Dogg also could make an appearance in the booth for the Arizona Bowl providing color commentary.
“Being a fan, coach, supporter of all levels of the game, I’ve sent many players through my SYFL to colleges and the NFL, so it’s only fitting that I step up and help get this thing right,” Snoop Dogg said in the video. “I’m ready to bring the juice back to college football.”
