Weiser Lock announced yesterday that it has pulled the company's sponsorship of Tucson's only postseason college football game.

Company president Vern Schroeder said Weiser Lock has reviewed its participation in the Copper Bowl and decided not to renew its position as title sponsor for upcoming bowl games, but will continue to support the event in a lesser role.

Billy Joe Varney, Copper Bowl Foundation chairman, said he is in the beginning stages of a search for a new title sponsor and that bowl plans for next season will continue.

"There's always a concern when you lose a sponsor that this could be the end of the bowl," he said. "Changing sponsors is something that happens from time to time.

"We feel very confident with some of the contacts we've made," he said.

Schroeder said the Tucson company based its decision on careful marketing research and the need to redirect funds toward new products.

Varney said he would like to see a local company become the new sponsor, but would support attempts for a national search.

Weiser Lock spent $4 million in the last four years to sponsor the local bowl game, Varney said. A new sponsor would be expected to pay $1 million annually for the privilege of being associated with the Copper Bowl.

Diana Madaras, president of Marathon Marketing, which promotes the Copper Bowl, said the benefits of sponsorship outweigh the detractions of monetary commitments.

For instance, the Copper Bowl is televised nationally by ESPN, she said. Because it is the first bowl game of the season, ESPN promotes it heavily during the latter half of the regular season.

"A company would have to pay three to five times more for that kind of coverage than what the sponsorship actually costs," Madaras said.

And because of the national coverage the game receives, she said, she felt confident the foundation could find a national sponsor.

Varney said he felt the University of Arizona will continue supporting the Copper Bowl.

The foundation rents Arizona Stadium and all costs incurred are passed on to the foundation, said Mark Harlan, program coordinator for the UA Athletics Department, in an earlier interview with the Wildcat.

Harlan has been involved with the Copper Bowl for the last two years. He said his department begins the process of putting the game together six months before kickoff, and the UA treats the bowl game as a "seventh game" in that the players involved in putting on a regular UA home game also work the postseason game.

"We don't just shut our doors and have the Copper Bowl people come in," he said.

Varney said he hopes to have a sponsor in place by June, before the foundation begins planning for Copper Bowl VIII.

"We would like to have one tomorrow," he said.