Contact:
Chris Widmaier
National Football League
212-758-1500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRO BOWL FAN BALLOTING ATTRACTS NEW PARTNERS;
AMERICA ONLINE CONTINUES AS EXCLUSIVE ONLINE PARTNER

topps trading cards, reebok and just for feet stores provide new outlets for voting that begins mid-october

NEW YORK, OCTOBER 8 - - New stars are emerging in the NFL this year and fans now have new ways to vote them into the Pro Bowl.

Whether its Tampa Bay’s Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott, or Oakland’s Anthony Smith and Napoleon Kaufman, Minnesota’s Brad Johnson, or Baltimore’s Peter Boulware, some of the NFL’s young stars are dominating their positions in the first third of the season.

NFL fans now have new opportunities to cast Pro Bowl ballots for the NFL’s up-and-comers and the league’s established stars. In addition to the traditional in-stadium balloting program and the fourth year of voting online at America Online’s Team NFL site, Topps Trading Cards, and Reebok/Just For Feet stores, offer fans the chance to vote for the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl teams. Topps has been the presenting sponsor of the Pro Bowl Experience and Card Show in Honolulu the past two years.

Beginning in late October, Topps will include a ballot featuring one position per conference in every pack of its Stadium Club football cards. Fans select the top performers at each position and then mail back the ballot per the enclosed detailed instructions. Also, Reebok is sponsoring NFL Pro Bowl ballots at 70 Just For Feet retail superstores nationwide. The ballots will be available from mid-October through November.

Ballots also will be distributed at the NFL Experience at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando and at the NFL Experience on Tour in conjunction with the NFL’s Air-It-Out traveling flag football festival.

In-stadium voting begins on Thursday, October 16 at Arrowhead Stadium where the Kansas City Chiefs host AFC West division rival San Diego Chargers. This year, for the first time, several NFL stadiums will conduct balloting on more than one weekend. Arizona, Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle will distribute ballots at two or more home games. In-stadium balloting will conclude at eight NFL stadiums on November 23.

In a format unique to pro football, fan voting counts as one-third of a player’s overall tally. Voting by NFL head coaches and players accounts for the other two-thirds.

The final AFC and NFC squads will be announced on ESPN on Thursday, December 11, in a special one-hour show beginning at 7:30 PM ET. The AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, to be broadcast by ABC Sports, will take place in Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium on February 1, 1998.