KANSAS CITY, MO (07/16/2012) – Major League Baseball (MLB), the Kansas City Royals, Budweiser and TEAM Coalition encouraged fans to be responsible and respect others while attending MLB All-Star activities July 6 – 10, through the Budweiser Good Sport program, safe-ride home options and the Responsibility Has Its Rewardssweepstakes for designated drivers.Budweiser Good Sport is a comprehensive action plan that encourages a positive crowd environment by reminding fans to be responsible, respect the rights of others and use a designated driver. The program is supported by Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch and its Kansas City-area wholesalers along with MLB, TEAM Coalition, Kauffman Stadium, ARAMARK and local law enforcement.Responsibility Has Its Rewards is an MLB league-wide sweepstakes which rewards one randomly–selected fan who pledged to be a designated driver during the previous regular season with a trip to the All-Star Game. This year’s winner is Jay Weissbrot, a responsible New York Yankees fan who attended the State Farm Home Run Derby and All-Star Game with his son Joseph. Jay was recognized on the Kauffman Stadium video board during the All-Star Game, serving as a representative of the record 447,000 MLB fans who pledged to be designated drivers last season.
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| (l to r) Bill Bordley, MLB Vice President of Security; Carl Mittleman, ARAMARK Regional Vice President; Aurelio Ruelas, Anheuser-Busch Director of Corporate Responsibility; Jay Weissbrot, New York Yankees Designated Driver for the Season, Joe Weissbrot; Tom Brasuell, MLB Vice President of Community Affairs; Jill Pepper, TEAM Coalition Executive Director |
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| “The MLB All-Star Game is a celebration of our sport, its best athletes and our great fans,” said John McHale, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Major League Baseball and TEAM Coalition Chairman. “TheBudweiser Good Sport program and Responsibility Has Its Rewards sweepstakes help provide fans with a safe, family-friendly experience by promoting responsible fan behavior and also rewarding MLB fans who help get their friends home safely by being a designated driver.”More than 1,600 adult baseball fans signed up to be a designated driver prior to and during the events at Kauffman Stadium, including the State Farm Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Game, at the Budweiser Good Sport booths located inside and outside the ballpark. Fans who registered received a coupon for a complimentary Pepsi beverage, courtesy of ARAMARK.Nearly 3,000 fans who visited MLB All-Star FanFest at the Kansas City Convention Center pledged to be responsible, added their autographs to a wall of signatures of responsible fans which will be displayed at Kauffman Stadium for the remainder of the 2012 season and received a souvenir photo displaying the responsibility message along with All-Star images.“Anheuser-Busch has led our industry in promoting responsible drinking for 30 years and Budweiser Good Sport is one of our most visible programs, which reminds fans who choose to drink, to do so responsibly and get their friends home safely,” said Kathy Casso, vice president, Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. “We all share the same streets after the game. This partnership with Major League Baseball, participating stadiums, concessionaires, TEAM and baseball fans displays our collective responsibility to help keep our roads safe.”
Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers promote responsible drinking among professional baseball fans by implementing Budweiser Good Sport fan responsibility programs with 22 MLB venues throughout the season.
“The success of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards campaign with Major League Baseball and Budweiser is a direct result of the commitment from the League, the MLB Clubs, the wholesalers and all the campaign partners,” said Jill Pepper, executive director of TEAM Coalition. “Teamwork is what this campaign is all about. We are demonstrating that when everyone – including the fans – takes responsibility, everyone wins.”
About MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the oldest professional sports league in the United States and consists of 30 member clubs in the U.S. and Canada representing the highest level of professional baseball. Under the guidance of its ninth Commissioner, Allan H. (Bud) Selig, MLB has experienced dramatic changes including Interleague Play, the introduction of the Wild Card, the new expanded postseason format in 2012, the most comprehensive drug-testing program in U.S. professional sports, an unprecedented era of labor peace, significant revenue sharing among the clubs and a growth in revenue from $1.2 billion in 1992 to more than $7 billion in 2011. The last eight seasons have been the best attended in MLB history with each year, including 2011, eclipsing the 73 million mark. With the continued success of MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media and the return of the MLB Fan Cave, MLB continues to find innovative ways for its fans to enjoy the National Pastime. For more information on Major League Baseball, visitwww.MLB.com.
About Anheuser-Busch
For nearly three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its nationwide network of wholesalers have invested more than $930 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to promote responsible drinking, prevent underage drinking and drunk driving and address college issues. For more information on these alcohol responsibility efforts and the progress being made, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.
About TEAM Coalition
TEAM Coalition is an alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaires, stadium service providers, the beer industry, distillers, broadcasters, traffic safety experts and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. TEAM Coalition members and supporters include Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, ARAMARK, Delaware North Companies – Sportservice, Ovations Food Services, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Anheuser-Busch Companies, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, Contemporary Services Corporation, Elite, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For more information, go to www.TEAMCoalition.org, www.RHIR.org
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