ESPN and BBVA Compass Announce Title Sponsorship of Major College Football Bowl Game

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, and BBVA Compass officials today announced a multiyear marketing agreement whereby BBVA Compass, the leading financial institution in the Sunbelt Region and among the top 20 largest financial institutions in the United States based on deposit market share, will become the title sponsor of the former Papajohns.com Bowl (currently known as the Birmingham Bowl). The 2010 BBVA Compass Bowl will feature bowl-eligible teams from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the BIG EAST Conference. The BBVA Compass Bowl is scheduled to take place at Birmingham's Historic Legion Field Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, at 11a.m. CT on ESPN.

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In addition to title sponsorship of the BBVA Compass Bowl, the agreement also provides BBVA Compass secondary sponsorships in three of ESPN's other Bowl games including: the Texas Bowl in Houston  Wednesday, Dec. 29 featuring teams from the Big 12 Conference and Big Ten Conference; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth Thursday, Dec. 30 with participating teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference; and the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque Saturday, Dec. 18 with teams from the Mountain West Conference and Western Athletic Conference.

"The agreement with ESPN will allow us a channel where we can connect with our customers' passion," said Manolo Sanchez, BBVA U.S. Country Manager and president and CEO of BBVA Compass. "For many people, their favorite sports team is a central part of who they are and college football fans are among the most passionate fans in the world. At BBVA Compass, we want to provide fans an opportunity to participate in what they love. The BBVA Compass Bowl provides us with a great opportunity to enhance the economic impact to the city of Birmingham while the agreement also allows us to reach fans in three other key Western markets that we serve."

"We are extremely pleased to have formed this strategic alliance with BBVA Compass in order to continue the growth and success of our first four years," said Mark Meadows, ESPN executive director of the BBVA Compass Bowl. "The prospect of working with a Birmingham based corporation and the willingness of their staff to explore new marketing strategies will pay dividends for the BBVA Compass Bowl for years to come."

Now in its fifth year, the ESPN Bowl in Birmingham has generated over $41.3 million in economic impact for the Birmingham area. As the bowl has grown in stature, so has attendance, rising each year by 10-13 percent. Last year's game featured the University of Connecticut and the University of South Carolina. Connecticut earned the 20-7 victory in front of 42,610 fans.

As in previous years, festivities surrounding the BBVA Compass Bowl will include the BBVA Compass Street Festival at Five Points South the evening prior to the game, as well as the Fan Zone at Historic Legion Field starting at 8 a.m. on game day.

For more information on the BBVA Compass Bowl visit www.bbvacompassbowl.com. Tickets can be ordered on the web site or beginning in December by visiting any of the 29 Birmingham-area BBVA Compass branches.

Earlier this year, BBVA, the parent company of BBVA Compass, announced a multiyear marketing partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that will highlight the bank's financial products and services to the league's broad and passionate fan base. As part of the partnership, BBVA will serve as the Official Bank of the NBA, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) in the United States, Spain and Puerto Rico.

These partnerships enhance BBVA's overall commitment to sports - which also includes its title sponsorship of La Liga BBVA, Spain's top professional soccer league - and fully identifies the bank with the values of passion, teamwork, and fair play inherent in sports. They also further reflect BBVA's position as the "Bank of Sports" and increase the visibility of a leading global brand with a successful history of reaching fans and consumers around the world through sports.

ABOUT BBVA COMPASS

BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates more than 717 branches including 382 in Texas, 92 in Alabama, 65 in California, 77 in Arizona, 45 in Florida, 36 in Colorado and 20 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass is the 15th largest U.S. commercial bank based on deposit market share and ranks among the largest banks in Texas (4th), Alabama (3rd) and Arizona (5th). For the second consecutive year, BBVA Compass was named as a "Lender of the Year" by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Additional information concerning BBVA Compass can be found on our website www.bbvacompass.com.

BBVA Compass is a subsidiary of Compass Bancshares, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA). BBVA is a financial services group with approximately $760 billion in total assets, 48 million clients, 7,400 branches and approximately 105,000 employees in more than 30 countries. BBVA ranks among the top 20 largest financial institutions in the world based on market capitalization and 21st in Global Finance magazine's list of the "World's 50 Safest Banks" for 2010. BBVA provides its customers around the world with a full range of financial services, including commercial and wholesale banking, retail banking services, consumer loans, mortgages, credit cards, securities brokerage, wealth management, pension plan management and insurance. The BBVA Group maintains a leadership position in Spain, Mexico, Latin America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States as well as operations in China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Editor's Note: BBVA Compass is a trade name of Compass Bank. Compass Bank, member FDIC.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership

The nation's largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,000 telecasts of sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas); BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl (Honolulu); Texas Bowl (Houston); the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.); and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Cancun Governor's Cup; Charleston Classic (S.C.); DIRECTV SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); Lane Furniture All-College Basketball Classic (Oklahoma City) and BracketBusters; as well as the ESPNU Warrior Classic (Lacrosse) and the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.

SOURCE BBVA Compass; ESPN