BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – BBVA Compass will end its sponsorship of Birmingham's college football bowl game after the 2014 BBVA Compass Bowl, bank executives said today.

Compass has elected to not renew its four-game contract with ESPN and will pursue other promotional opportunities instead, said Alan Register, the bank’s Birmingham city president.

The bank had a positive relationship with both ESPN and the city of Birmingham, but elected to not renew the contract so it could pursue sponsorship deals that provide more flexibility, Register said.

“We’re looking at a variety of different sponsorships,” he said.

Compass announced that it's not renewing the deal eight months before the final game in an attempt to give ESPN and the city sufficient time to find a replacement, he said.

Efforts to reach Birmingham Mayor William Bell or a representative, and efforts to reach a representative of ESPN Regional Television, which owns the game, were not immediately successful.

The game has had just two title corporate sponsors in the made-for-television era of bowl games. Papa John’s Pizza sponsored the game from 2006 through 2010. When BBVA Compass took over sponsorship four years ago an economic impact study found that the game was worth about $18 million to the local economy, including revenue at hotels and restaurants from visitors, and less direct spending.

Other Birmingham bowl games over the years have included the Dixie Bowl, the Hall of Fame Classic and the All-American Bowl.

The 2013 game, in which Ole Miss beat Pittsburgh 38-17, drew an announced crowd of 59,135, the highest attendance in the BBVA Compass Bowl’s three-year history and eighth highest among all bowl games this year. The 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl drew 75,000 and the 1979 Hall of Fame Bowl drew 62,785.

BBVA Compass, which is a subsidiary of the Spanish bank BBVA, focuses on sports, education and the arts when looking for sponsorship opportunities, Register said. In addition to the BBVA Compass Bowl, the bank currently sponsors La Liga, the top professional soccer league in Spain; Compass Stadium in Houston and is the lead bank sponsor for the NBA.