Mattress Mac Might Consider EFUS Naming Rights

Good lord!

<i>Mattress Mac starting to like Drayton's stadium more, bowl game less
By Kenny Hand
Special to ABC13.com

(12/08/01) — Listen up, Drayton. I think I found your guy. The corporate sponsor you'll need when Enron officially bellies up and can't afford its sign on your baseball stadium anymore.

He's considering it.

"I'm already paying $400,000 (for advertising) with the Astros," McIngvale told me Saturday. "I might as well go the other $2.6 or $2.9 or whatever."

Really?

Really.

"I mean, it's something to consider. A lot of times you don't know how to measure your advertising dollars, but they do have 81 regular-season baseball games there. That's a lot of exposure (for his business). Plus, that may make more sense than paying $6 million for a bowl game that's once a year."

That would be the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in its second year, now featuring Texas A&M and TCU on Dec. 28 at the Reliant Astrodome. McIngvale's $400,000 commitment, good for each of the past two years, expires after this one. The third year, next year, is an option year and he and the bowl's owner, Jerry Ippoliti, haven't seen eye to eye. Seems to be a High Noon showdown looming. Even if Ippoliti keeps ownership and doesn't choose to sell, he might have to look for a new corporate sponsor. Mac sounds iffy.

"Something's definitely got to change," McIngvale said. "We got lucky this year with those two teams, but how many times is that going to happen? Our payout is $750,000 per team. This year we get real fortunate with A&M (Big 12's seventh-best team) and then TCU upsets Southern Miss (Friday night), so we've got two Texas teams and that's great. But to take this bowl to a higher level, someone is going to have to pay at least $3 million per team, and I'm not sure even that much will be enough money to get us where we want to be."

Wouldn't that someone be Mattress Mac, taking over ownership of the bowl?

"I'm not so sure for $6 million you're getting enough return on the investment if you put all your eggs in just one bowl."

Then there is the ongoing friction between Mac and Ippoliti. Last year's inaugural galleryfurniture.com Bowl between Texas Tech and East Carolina, which drew only 33,899, was a logistical ticket-booth disaster. Long lines to buy or pick up tickets at the gates caused some fans - the number is in dispute - to miss a significant portion of the game. Some Tech fans who couldn't get into the stadium, after paying for parking, told me they turned around and went home.

This irritated Mac like a damaged recliner. His name is on the bowl, obviously, and he basks in the warmth of his customer-service image. Walk into his furniture store on the Gulf Freeway (you know the routine, between Tidwell and Parker!) and a sales person greets you three steps past the front door.

"My problem is I'm a control freak," Mac said. "I'm big on customer service. And whether it's Jerry or the sports marketing people, I don't know, but we've had some problems with details. I have a hard time dealing with that. It's unacceptable. If people want to buy tickets or pick up tickets, you shouldn't make it hard for them, right? Jerry and I will sit down after this bowl is over and talk about my involvement. They need somebody (corporation) to step up if they want to take it to the next level. I'm not sure I want to do that."

Sounds like Mac's future as a bowl sponsor is more than vague. He certainly seems to be playing hardball with Ippoliti, who might be hard-pressed to find someone to help defray the outlay of $750,000 per team, much less a steeper price . For this year, at least, Ippoliti is sitting pretty as the bowl's owner. Even though it's a minor bowl, the Aggies are being counted on to sell it out. TCU, which needed the victory over Southern Miss to be bowl-eligible, is being given 15,000 tickets to peddle. Question remains, why did the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio pass on the Aggies to take Texas Tech, which wouldn't appear to bring the number of fans to San Antonio as the Aggies have in the past?

Sure, I know Tech beat A&M earlier this year in the ugly Goalpost-gate caper, but since when has a bowl chosen a team on merit? Bowls choose teams based on which school travels best, puts the most fannies in seats. Anything else out of their mouths is an outright lie.

Someone did a legal, but backroom, deal. So, who greased Alamo palms or Tech palms or Aggie palms, so that the Alamo Bowl is guaranteed a sellout with the Red Raiders, allowing A&M to come to Houston?

"I don't know anything about that," Mac said with conviction, "I really don't. I think the Alamo Bowl isn't getting enough credit here for taking its medicine and inviting the right team. After all, Tech did beat A&M. Tech deserved to go to that bowl. Too often we look at things in a cynical light, especially after Enron (fall from grace) and things like that. I just think the Alamo Bowl did the right thing.

"What's in it for me to pay anybody to make sure the Aggies come here? Hey, this (galleryfurniture.com) bowl lost $300,000 last year with Tech. A&M helps greatly this year (profit-wise) for sure and that helps the bowl for next year, but I'm not going to pay A&M off to come here instead of the Alamo. I might not even be involved (in the bowl) next year. Besides (laughing), I played football at UT. I love the Aggies but not that much.

"Seriously, though, we've got a great bowl to look forward to. I just put an ad in the paper Saturday about the basketball doubleheader with Bobby Knight coming to town (Texas Tech vs. UH; A&M vs. Tulsa at Compaq Center Dec. 14) and it's generated a couple of calls. But I've already had about 10 million calls from Aggies who want tickets to the bowl game. By the way, one of my (Gallery Furniture) salespeople, guy named Mike, played football at Southern Miss. He kept telling me they were going to beat TCU and come here.

But I have a nephew, his name's David Baum, and he'll been telling me TCU would win. Turns out my nephew is pretty smart."

So is Mac, who came rolling into Houston from Dallas two decades ago with less in his pocket than the price of a big-screen TV these days and turned a furniture store idea into one of this country's success stories. With Enron not in a long-term position to sponsor so much as a fish fry, the Astros might be a better spot for McIngvale's advertising bucks than a bowl game.

Next year's Houston bowl is set for the new Reliant Stadium, home of the Texans, where Mac already will have a sponsored Gallery Furniture Gate. "Southeast side, I think," he said. I suspect unless Ippoliti sells - maybe to the Reliant people? - the bowl will be in Mac's rear view mirror. That extra $400,000 probably will go somewhere, Drayton, because Mac thinks big.

"I'll talk to Drayton," said McIngvale, "if he calls me."

Mac, I think Drayton's going to drop a bulb he's hanging on the family Christmas tree after reading this. Hear that ring at Gallery? That's the tall Texan from Temple on the telephone.

"Mac? Drayton McLane. I see where you want to help us become champions."

Jump up and down Mac, tell him you have an idea that will save him from losing money.</i>