Responsibility Has Its Rewards at NBA All-Star 2019 -

02/18/2019

The 68th NBA All-Star Game on February 17, 2019 brought the incredible skills of the league’s best players together for an unforgettable night.

For Wainy Richardson, the Dallas Mavericks Responsible Fan for the Season, her trip to the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC was the result of being the first prize winner of the “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes for designated drivers.

Richardson, a resident of Arlington, TX, was named “Responsible Fan for the Season” for the Mavericks. All 30 NBA teams selected a Responsible Fan for the Season. Ms. Richardson was the lucky one randomly selected to represent the more than 74,000 responsible NBA fans who pledged to be designated drivers last season.

The “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes grand prize winners from the 2017-2018 NBA season were Veronica Thomas and James McCants. Thomas was named “Responsible Fan for the Season” for the Golden State Warriors and McCants was selected to represent the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thomas attended Game 1 of The Finals 2018 and McCants attended Game 3. Responsible Fans pledge to drink responsibly, prevent drunk driving and always have a designated driver.

TEAM Coalition, the NBA, Budweiser (the official beer of the NBA) and Jack Daniel’s (the official spirit of the league) work in conjunction to encourage more fans to pledge to drink alcohol responsibly. The top five NBA teams for Responsible Fans at the end of the 2017-2018 season were:

Dallas Mavericks with 10,189 designated drivers
Oklahoma City Thunder with 9,556 designated drivers
Houston Rockets with 7,617 designated drivers
Charlotte Hornets with 7,494 designated drivers
Milwaukee Bucks with 5,095 designated drivers

The success of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards campaign with the NBA is a direct result of the commitment from the league, the teams and all the campaign partners. Teamwork is what this campaign is all about. We are demonstrating that when everyone – including the fans – takes responsibility, everyone wins.Jill Pepper, Executive Director, TEAM Coalition

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 National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, National Football League, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Americrown, Aramark, Delaware North Sportservice, Legends, Spectra, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Constellation Brands, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For more information visit www.TEAMCoalition.org or www.FansDontLetFansDriveDrunk.org.

(L to R): Ashley Heafy, Charlotte Hornets; John Kirtland, Anheuser-Busch; Jerome Pickett, National Basketball League; Greg Luehrs, Brown-Forman; Wainy Richardson, Responsibility Has Its Rewards Sweepstakes Winner; Kevin Ross, TEAM Coalition and Abeer Klosk, National Basketball League

US DOT / NHTSA 2016 NATIONAL DATA:

• In 2017, 10,874 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, a decrease of 1.1% from the 10,996 fatalities in 2016.

• Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.

• Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash, drive when impaired by alcohol, and fail to buckle up.

Author: jacksonteamcoalition