Public Health Groups Lobby Against Cigar Sponsor of Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl is one of college football’s oldest bowl games, having taken place annually since 1935. This year’s Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 between the Clemson Tigers and West Virginia Mountaineers features a sponsor that has got a whole slew of public-health organizations feeling pretty fed up with the NCAA: Camacho Cigars.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society and eight other groups are asking the NCAA to end the relationship between Camacho and college sports, the Washington Post reports. The sponsorship covers the next three Orange Bowls as well as for next year’s Bowl Championship Series title game. It also “includes a large presence at several game-day events for the maker of Camacho and Baccarat The Game cigars, including lounges where fans can light up,” the Post adds.

“The association of cigar smoking with one of the nation’s top collegiate sporting events sends the wrong message to impressionable young fans and helps market cigars as athletic, masculine and cool,” the groups wrote in the letter to the NCAA, the Post reports. “Linking tobacco use to sports also downplays the serious health risks of tobacco products.”

The NCAA requires that all of its student-athletes and game personnel not use tobacco in any form at practice or in competitions. The Orange Bowl itself, meanwhile, is sponsored by Discover cards.

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