Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Think your college or high school mascot would look good on the tail of a commercial airliner? Here's your chance to make it happen.

Frontier Airlines already places animal characters on the tails of all its planes. Now, in a contest announced Wednesday, the "ultra low-cost carrier" will save space on one of its soon-to-be-delivered Airbus jets for a college or high school mascot.

“We know Americans take great pride in their teams and mascots,” Daniel Shurz, Frontier’s senior vice president – commercial, says in a statement announcing the contest. “Likewise, at Frontier we take pride in the animals on our aircraft tails. We have 19 new aircraft joining our fleet in 2016, and we want to share the fun of choosing the animal on one of our tails with the communities we serve with our Low Fares Done Right.”

FRONTIER AIRLINES: Nominate, vote for your favorite mascot

So, University of Wisconsin alums, now is your chance to get Bucky the Badger on a commercial jetliner. Same for your Colorado fans and Ralphie the Buffalo.

But it won’t be as straight-forward for mascots like Western Kentucky’s “Big Red” blob. Or even for Alabama’s “Big Al” elephant mascot.

In its contest rules, Frontier says “the tail animal depicted must be a North American animal that is not a human being, and the tail animal will be a photograph, chosen by Frontier Airlines, of that animal. Frontier Airlines will not use a cartoon or fictional representation of the mascot on the airplane.”

That doesn’t necessarily rule out schools like Western Kentucky or Alabama. However, if one of those mascots wins, it won’t end up on the tail. Instead, Frontier says if the winning mascot is not an animal, it will select the type of animal to be placed on the tail – provided it receives permission of the school or group. “For example,” Frontier’s statement says, “if the Richfield Rockets is the mascot, Frontier will select a North American animal and name it Rocket.”

Similarly, Frontier says if the winning mascot is not a North American animal, it will then “designate the type of animal to be placed on the tail” – with the permission of the winning school or group. So, if Alabama’s “Big Al” the elephant wins, Frontier would select a North American animal for the tail but would name it Big Al.

Frontier says the mascot getting the most votes must get the approval of its school or group before being declared the winner. Frontier also says it retains the right to nix animal depictions or names “in the event (Frontier) determines a name is unsuitable or inappropriate.”

So, with those rules in mind, Frontier says fans can add their mascot online at flyfronter.com/mascotcontest. Voting, which can be done at the same link, will begin Wednesday and will run through April 30.

Among the growing number of mascots already nominated: Northwestern University's Wildcat, Georgia Tech's Yellow Jacket, St. Xavier High School's Blue Monster and Oregon State's Beaver.

The winner will be announced in May and is expected to grace the tail of one of Frontier’s new Airbus A320 family aircraft around September.

Stay tuned ...

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