GRID IRON BASH THE ULTIMATE FAN COMPETITION

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ESPN

What Alabama hath wrought: If Shawn Garrity is right, spring football will never be the same.

When 92,000-plus fans filled Bryant-Denny Stadium last April for coach Nick Saban's Crimson Tide debut, they caught the attention of Garrity, an event promoter who lettered in football at Syracuse in 1986, and his friend, former Cal All-American running back Chuck Muncie. The two of them had been searching for a way to raise awareness and funds to support Cal's attempts to renovate Memorial Stadium and build a new football building.

What Garrity developed, "Gridiron Bash," mixes hot music acts, competition between fans (think Pontiac and its Game Changing Performances) and spring football games at 20 schools over the weekend of April 18-20. The three schools that "win" will split $1.75 million in scholarship money.

"We saw a legitimate opportunity in that their stadiums are 97 percent vacant over the course of the year," Garrity said. "We wanted to create something that fans would want to come to, a big pep rally event the night before the game, adding entertainment the night before the game."

Here's how it will work: Garrity's company will bring in A-list recording acts to stage concerts at pep rallies the night before the spring game. The paid attendance number will count 70 percent toward the competition. The remaining 30 percent will be tallied by text-message voting. It's a version of the two-step Texas Democratic primary, with the second step being "American Idol"-style voting instead of a caucus.

Garrity chose schools that aren't near major metropolitan areas, so that the event would not get lost in a smorgasbord of entertainment choices. Among the musical acts, tailored to regional tastes, are big names such as Alan Jackson at Alabama, Fall Out Boy at Rutgers, Counting Crows at Colorado, ZZ Top at Texas A&M, Maroon 5 at Utah, Kelly Clarkson at Iowa, Fergie at Penn State and, scheduled to be announced Monday, Kid Rock and Sara Evans at LSU.

What Gridiron Bash isn't accomplishing is what Garrity and Muncie set out to do: help Cal. Garrity believes the model will work best in smaller metropolitan areas without a lot of professional sports. Cal fits neither criterion.