Oklahoma State football: What exactly is the Heart of Dallas Bowl?

Enter Egan, the founder and principal of Haymaker, one of Dallas' leading sports and entertainment marketing agencies.

Egan acknowledged the past several months have had their difficulties at times, as he and the organization's other volunteers have needed to rely on pitching opportunity and objective to corporations and citizens, rather than history and results. But a big victory came when the bowl was able to secure PlainsCapital Bank as a “presenting” sponsor, rather than a title sponsor, allowing Heart of Dallas to maintain the bowl's naming rights.

Heart of Dallas already has several other events lined up in the coming months. It has partnered with the Dallas Cup, a prestigious youth soccer tournament, and will stage a concert series in the fall. And the first weekend of the Texas State Fair, Louisiana Tech and Army will square off in the inaugural Heart of Dallas Classic.

The Heart of Dallas Bowl, though, will kick-start it all. Egan said the bowl was “absolutely thrilled” OSU was still available to invite, and that he expects Purdue fans to be interested in making the trip to Dallas.

For now, Egan will continue to tell fans what Heart of Dallas aspires to be.

He hopes the bowl game will prove it.

“We actually just want to get past this first game and show that we do have a great organization and we can put on a great event,” Egan said.