Cougar Wins Are Like Money In Bank

Want a little action on the Washington State University football team? Don’t call a bookie. Call a banker.

State National Bank in Garfield is offering a certificate of deposit with a yield adjusted upward with every Cougar victory.

After Saturday’s triumph over the UCLA Bruins, bettors - investors, that is - are already ahead.

Cashier Stan Yarbrough said the bank started promoting the one-year CD last week after a delay clearing the license to use the Cougar logo.

He said the bank modeled the program after one launched last year by a bank in the Midwest. “It looked like it would be a lot of fun,” he said.

The initial yield was 5.54 percent, with a minimum investment of $1,000. That figure is hiked .1 percent on the first business day following a Cougar win.

The offer is good through Sept. 30, and anyone who buys before Sept. 20 will get the benefit of Saturday’s conquest of UCLA, plus another .1 percent if the Cougars can defeat the USC Trojans on Sept. 13.

Yarbrough said beating the two Los Angeles-area teams and Illinois, their Sept. 20 opponent, should ensure a pretty good season for WSU.

An undefeated season capped by a Rose Bowl win - worth .5 percent by itself - could hike the yield on Jan. 2 to 7.14 percent, he said.

As a CD buyer, Yarbrough said such an outcome would be welcome. But as the officer charged with obtaining yields on bank investments that will outstrip those on the CDs, he added he was mildly apprehensive.

“That’s a risk to the bank,” he said.

Yarbrough said the initial rate is competitive, but less than that offered by other institutions. State National would be the market leader once the Cougars win five games, he said.

Although bank executives tried to size up WSU’s season by reading press accounts, Yarbrough said there was no attempt at detailed analysis.

“I didn’t go down and try to be a pundit,” he said.

, DataTimes