Come for the football, stay for the mayonnaise bath, the mayonnaise eating contest, the mayonnaise race, mayonnaise tastings, mayonnaise bobbing …
The Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and all its emulsion-based shenanigans, has trended on social media in recent years and turned the event from one of many college football bowl games into one of the sport’s most viral sensations.
On Friday, under the lights of a 75,000-person stadium in Charlotte, N.C., two teams will battle for victory and for the chance — nay, the right — to watch as the winning head coach is bathed in five gallons of celebratory mayo.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game.
Who’s playing?
At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will play the Virginia Tech Hokies at Bank of America Stadium, which the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers call home. The Gophers won seven of 12 games this season, while the Hokies compiled an even six wins and six losses.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
What’s the game’s history?
Duke’s Mayo, a competitor to Hellman’s that is much preferred among many Southerners, purchased the rights for an undisclosed amount from the Charlotte Sports Foundation in 2020. Before that, the game had a variety of sponsors, including Belk, a Charlotte-based department store chain, and Meineke Car Care Center, a Charlotte-based operator of repair shops.
Duke’s extended the contract in 2023 until an undisclosed time, Miller Yoho, the director of communications and marketing for the foundation, said.
Six major bowl games — the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl — are part of a playoff that leads to a national championship game. Then there are 36 other bowl games vying to remain relevant as players enter the transfer portal or drop out entirely if they have N.F.L. aspirations. Some bowls rely on decades of tradition, others on exotic locales.
And some, like the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, have figured out a way to create buzz and draw millions of viewers.
The fierce battle for attention during bowl season has led to made-for-TikTok moments to fill opening ceremonies, stoppage time and postgame festivities.
There was the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, which brought fans down to the field and into a small, cracker-branded jacuzzi. At the Pop-Tarts Bowl, a humanoid Pop-Tarts mascot danced on the field before it was ripped to shreds and eaten by the winning team in a moment that frightened and intrigued.
The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is more than just gimmicks. Its payouts to teams, attendance and television ratings are respectable for a mid-tier game, and it holds a coveted prime-time spot near the end of the bowl season. Last year’s edition between North Carolina and West Virginia drew 3.84 million viewers, its most since 2016. But its success in garnering attention has more to do with its willingness to go all-in on mayo, creating some of the most provocative and viral moments in college football.
Here’s what to expect.
There will be more mayo-eating contests and mayo tastings of some kind, that’s for sure. Last year, fans were given jars of Duke’s Mayo with team logos on them. The Duke’s Mayo mascot will run in a race. The Savannah Bananas, an exhibition baseball team known for its on-field antics, will show up, Mr. Yoho said. Other mayo mayhem will ensue.
There will also be mayo bobbing. It’s like bobbing for apples, except with small mayo packets swimming in a bucket of mayo.
And then there will be the infamous mayo dump. That’s when the coach of the winning team sits in a chair, most likely questioning some life decisions, while five gallons of mayonnaise is dumped on his head.
Gross? Maybe. But the people are watching. Mr. Yoho told The New York Times last year that interest in the game had never been higher.
“Honestly, this is the most anyone’s been talking about it in the 10 years I’ve been doing it,” he said. Duke’s Mayo had a record day of online sales during last year’s game, a spokesman for the brand added.
Executives with the Charlotte Sports Foundation have been tight-lipped about some of the surprises that they say are in store, including new elements to the mayo dump. But whatever happens, clips are likely to be all over your social media feeds shortly after the clock hits double zeros.
