School officials nominated their mascots for the competition.

Then, a panel of judges from Capital One and the mascot
community selected the 16 finalists based on factors including professionalism, appearance of the mascot’s costume and national prominence, said Chris O’Neill, director of digital and public relations campaigns at Capital One.

“We promote the entire program, so that involves all 16 finalists,” he said. “We also work with the individual schools to get the word out … and get as many people involved as possible.”

The first week of the competition began Monday with Sparty matched up against Georgia Tech’s Buzz. As of Wednesday evening, Sparty was leading his first matchup by a tally of 17,061 to 13,620.

Every Monday through Nov. 21, the mascots are matched up against a new opponent for that week. Then, the eight mascots with the best records face off in a bracket-style single elimination competition to decide the winning mascot.

Ohio State University’s Brutus is the only other Big Ten university mascot in the Capital One competition.

Even in its early stages, MSU students have shown positive reactions to Sparty’s inclusion in this year’s challenge.

Graduate student Kevin Mehren said he feels Sparty has a good chance in the competition.

“I feel like we have to win,” he said. “It’s Sparty; everyone knows him.”

Sparty is a three-time winner of the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s No. 1 collegiate mascot competition. He also has won the NCAA Football 09 Wii Cover Mascot Challenge in 2008 and previously competed in The Most Dominant College Mascot on Earth competition in 2007 sponsored by CBS Sportsline, both of which were determined through online votes.

MSU plans on doing its own share of promotion to help rally support for Sparty in the Capitol One challenge, said Janel Rutzen, Student Alumni Foundation programs coordinator.

“We are working directly with MSU’s public relations to develop a whole marketing plan to secure Sparty’s victory,” she said.

Computer engineering sophomore Sean Moore said he likes the idea of Sparty representing MSU on a national stage and thinks winning the challenge could bring good visibility to the university.

“I know most students check (websites) like ESPN anyway every day,” Moore said.
“It’d take like two seconds for someone to vote. (If MSU won) it would just bring recognition to our school and more people would probably be interested (in MSU).”

Students and fans can support Sparty by voting on CapitalOneBowl.com,
facebook.com/mascotchallenge or by texting VOTE to 78527.