Tide® and NFL Announce Multi-Year Sponsorship with the League and all 32 Teams

Locker room staple now officially “The Clean the NFL Trusts”

Procter and Gamble’s Tide and the National Football League today announced a multi-year sponsorship beginning with the 2012 NFL season.  A staple of NFL locker rooms for years, Tide is also now a sponsor of the League and all 32 NFL teams, affirming the brand as the “Official Laundry Detergent of the NFL.”

Tide’s NFL sponsorship is part of Procter and Gamble’s national sponsorship of the League.  Products across Tide’s portfolio will be sporting specialty NFL packaging prior to the start of the NFL season as part of a fully-integrated program with support across all marketing channels. Additionally, the individual team sponsorships allow Tide the opportunity to utilize team marks and execute team-specific marketing programs.

“Tide’s NFL sponsorship allows us to tap into the huge passion America has for the NFL and the emotion that more than 180 million fans have for their favorite teams,” says Sundar Raman, North America Fabric Care Marketing Director at P&G. “The NFL is the ultimate test for a laundry detergent and we’re proud that our brand is one the equipment managers trust to keep uniforms clean.”
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33 NFL greats to announce second & third round Draft picks in primetime; one fan to help announce pick of his/her favorite team

The National Football League announced that 33 legendary NFL alumni, one representing each team and two representing the St. Louis Rams, will announce live on Friday, April 27, second- and third-round Draft picks from Radio City Music Hall.  This continues a successful program that began last year in which each selection in the second round is announced by a former player.

The NFL alumni scheduled to be on-hand to make the announcements from the podium feature six Pro Football Hall of Famers, including two from the Class of 2012:

Teams marked with a * do not have a second-round selection, barring a trade into Round 2.  Their player representatives will announce their Round 3 picks. 
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WISE and NFL join forces to help industry women

Women in Sports & Events (WISE), the leading voice and resource for professional women in the business of sports and events, announced today the National Football League is working with the organization as its first corporate partner.

Founded in 1993, WISE continues to support women in the business of sports and events industries as well as provide resources for them to grow and advance in their careers through a series of initiatives.  WISE serves more than 1,000 members across the country and hosts its annual WISE Women of the Year luncheon honoring three women leaders within the industry.  Kim Williams, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network is one of the honorees being recognized at this year’s luncheon on June 19^th, 2012 in NYC. 

The NFL partnership marks the first time WISE is forming a year-long partnership with a single entity.  Through the partnership, WISE and the NFL will collaborate on programming and other targeted platforms to benefit the WISE membership and NFL employees.

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Commissioner Goodell: Fans & players can expect quality and innovation from new merchandise licensees

Commissioner Roger Goodell today said that he is looking forward to the merchandise created this season by new NFL licensees. The Commissioner was speaking at the ribbon-cutting for the NFL’s first-ever pop-up store in New York, which will have many of these products in the month leading up to the April 26-28 NFL Draft. 

“We have seven new licensees, with Nike and New Era leading the way,” Commissioner Goodell said. “It will be a chance for them to demonstrate their innovation and the way they are changing their products for our fans and for our players. You are going to see a different quality in the products.  They are more performance related, particularly the jerseys, and of course, style.”

Commissioner Goodell’s first purchase today was apparel for his wife and daughters. “Women are going to love it because it is designed for them and it is intended to be performance related for them,” he said.

Following is a transcript from the Commissioner’s media availability at the new NFL store, located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan (6th Avenue between 41st Street and 42nd Street):

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2012 Annual Meeting Transcripts: Commissioner Goodell & Rich McKay

Please see below for full transcripts of today’s media availabilities (March 28) of Commissioner Roger Goodell and Atlanta Falcons President & CEO and Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay.

For a full transcript of Commissioner Goodell’s press conference, click here.

For a full transcript of Rich McKay’s press conference, click here.

NFL Kicks Off Annual Meeting with Focus on the Future

Commissioner Roger Goodell opened the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, FL today with a presentation to team owners, general managers, coaches and staff. 

The hour-long session, which included remarks from executives in numerous departments, briefly looked back at the successful 2011 season, capped off by the most-watched Super Bowl in history.

The focus of the session, however, was on the future, continuing to improve, and taking on new challenges. “We will face our challenges with the same approach that led to our success last season. We will embrace them, we will prepare and we will be unified. We can never take our success for granted,” said Goodell. “Like every one of your teams, we start over. It’s a new season. Everyone is 0-0. And everyone is coming after us. We are going to have our ups and downs. That’s reality. It is not just what we do but how we do it. What we do echoes far beyond the NFL.”

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Rodgers, Tebow, Eli Manning top jersey list

Below are the 25 top-selling jerseys on NFLShop.com from April 1, 2011 – February 29,2012.

STEELERS-BRONCOS ON CBS MOST-WATCHED WILD CARD GAME EVER

GAME ALSO MOST-WATCHED PROGRAM SINCE SUPER BOWL XLV

SECOND MOST-WATCHED WILD CARD WEEKEND EVER

Following a record-setting regular season, NFL fans continued to tune in for the Wild Card playoffs.  Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos game on CBS drew 42.4 million viewers ranking as the most-watched show since Super Bowl XLV and the most-watched Wild Card game ever (topping last year’s Packers-Eagles game on FOX, 39.3 million). 

The Wild Card games averaged 31 million viewers to rank as the second most-watched Wild Card Weekend ever (32.3 million in 2010). The four games were also the four most-watched shows on television last week (chart below).

Saturday night’s Detroit Lions-New Orleans Saints game on NBC drew 31.8 million viewers, marking  the third consecutive year with two Wild Card games averaging more than 30.0 million viewers.

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NFL games top local ratings 91 percent of time in 2011

Cowboys-Giants Most-Watched NBC Primetime Game Ever

NFL Games Top Ratings In All 30 Markets

NFL games topped ratings in all 30 local markets in Week 17 for the fourth time in five years as teams made their final pushes for the Playoffs.  For the season, NFL games were the highest rated program locally 91 percent of the time.

The Cowboys-Giants Sunday night game was the most-watched NBC primetime game ever and the most-watched show among all programs last week with 27.6 million viewers.

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National Football League celebrates season with “NFL Honors” Super Bowl Eve

First-ever 2-hour primetime awards show on NBC salutes top players & performances from 2011 season

ALEC BALDWIN Hosts Show From Murat Theatre in Indianapolis with Performance by LENNY KRAVITZ and Appearances by Hall of Famers JERRY RICE, BARRY SANDERS & STEVE YOUNG

The night before the two top teams kick off Super Bowl XLVI, the National Football League will salute its best players and plays from the 2011 season with a star-studded football and entertainment  event – “NFL Honors” – a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on February 4, 9-11 p.m. (ET)  on NBC.

Current and former players such as JERRY RICE, BARRY SANDERS, DEION SANDERS, SHANNON SHARPE & STEVE YOUNG will be in attendance as the NFL and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS announce their annual accolades in an awards show format for the first time. “NFL Honors” will become an annual event from the Super Bowl city.  The winners will be on hand to accept their awards.

ALEC BALDWIN will host the show from the Murat Theater in Indianapolis. The show will feature a live performance from LENNY KRAVITZ.

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