Jimmy Kimmel Bowl trophy is a wrestling belt with ties to Fresno. Meet the man behind it

As the official trophy provider for The Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Presented by Stifel (to use the full name), Matt Walsh has to be unbiased about who he thinks is going to win the big game Saturday.

“May the best team win,” and all of that.

But Walsh graduated from Fresno State’s Craig School of Business in 2006 and operated several businesses in town before opening the e-commerce site TrophySmack in 2018.

So when he found out that the Bulldogs had earned a spot in this year’s bowl game against the Washington State Cougars, “you know where my head went, right way.”

For those who don’t follow college football (or watch “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”), this is the second year for the bowl game, which is hosted at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

By design, the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl is a bit non-traditional in the college football landscape, says executive Jason Gannon.

It is a bowl game that “speaks to not only the fans, but to the players,” Gannon says.

And part of that is its top prize — an eight-pound, leather and chrome, electroplated championship belt that seems more suited for a professional wrestling ring than a football field.

“The belt has personality,” Gannon says, which is important, he adds, as a sports fan who’s watched no shortage of trophy presentations.

Walsh remembers seeing that first hand as the belt got passed around last year, from the mascot to the cheerleaders to the band.

Jimmy Kimmel had it up in the press box, Walsh says.

“There’s something about having a giant championship belt hoisted over your shoulder,” he says.

“The belt hits.”

As part of the LA Bowl partnership, replicas of the belt (in both a full-sized and mini versions) will be available at the stadium on game day and also on the TrophySmack website.

The LA Bowl reached out to TrophySmack last year after seeing the company’s performance on the TV series “Shark Tank” (Mark Cuban bought into the company).

The partnership, along with a similar one with ESPN to do the trophy for its fantasy football season, represents an evolution for the company, whose sole business to that point had been making and shipping custom trophies, championship belts and rings for the growing market of fantasy sports leagues.

“Now it’s less than half, because of partnerships like these,” Walsh says.

“This is a big-time-disruptive, change-the-game kind of thing.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 5:30 AM.