San Diego, CA, July 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Major League Baseball (MLB), the San Diego Padres, Budweiser and TEAM Coalition joined forces to encourage fans to be responsible and respect others while attending MLB All-Star activities July 8-12. Through the Budweiser Good Sport program, safe-ride home options and the Responsibility Has Its Rewards sweepstakes for designated drivers, more than 10,000 21-and-older baseball fans pledged to make a plan to make it home safely.
Budweiser Good Sport is an in-stadium designated driver program that promotes responsible consumption and safe transportation among adult sports fans. The program was created by Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer, in 1986, with 105 professional sports teams and venues now participating in the program annually.
Responsibility Has Its Rewards is an MLB league-wide sweepstakes which rewards one randomly–selected fan who pledged to be a designated driver with a trip to the All-Star Game presented by MasterCard. This year’s winner was George Dainis, a responsible fan from Boston who attended the Gatorade All-Star Workout Day, featuring T-Mobile Home Run Derby, and the 87th Midsummer Classic with his wife, Diane Dainis. George was recognized on the Petco Park video board at the All-Star Game, serving as a representative of the record 605,000 MLB fans who pledged to be designated drivers last season.
“The All-Star Game is a celebration of our sport, its best athletes and our great fans,” said John Skinner, Director of Security & Facility Management, Major League Baseball. “The Budweiser Good Sport program and Responsibility Has Its Rewards sweepstakes help provide fans with a safe, family-friendly experience by promoting responsible fan behavior. They also reward MLB fans who help get their friends home safely by being a designated driver.”
Six Budweiser Good Sport designated driver sign-up locations are located inside Petco Park. Fans who registered received a discount coupon for a free soft drink.
8,092 fans who visited MLB All-Star FanFest at San Diego Convention Center pledged to be responsible, added their autographs to a wall of signatures of responsible fans which will be displayed at Petco Park for the remainder of the 2016 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 more than 30 years and Budweiser Good Sport is one of our most visible programs,” said Katja Zastrow, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility-Better World at Anheuser-Busch. “We all share the same streets after the game. This partnership with Major League Baseball, participating stadiums, concessionaires, TEAM Coalition and baseball fans displays our commitment to keeping our roads safe.”
Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers promote responsible drinking among professional baseball fans by implementing Budweiser Good Sport fan responsibility programs with 23 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 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the most historic 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. Major League Baseball is the best-attended sport in North America, and since 2004, MLB has enjoyed its best-attended seasons in the history of the game, with each regular season eclipsing the 73 million mark. Now led by Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., MLB currently features record levels of labor peace, competitive balance and industry revenues, as well as the most comprehensive drug-testing program in American professional sports. MLB remains committed to making an impact in the communities of the U.S., Canada and throughout the world, perpetuating the sport’s larger role in society and permeating every facet of baseball’s business, marketing and community relations endeavors. With the continued success of MLB Advanced Media and MLB Network, MLB continues to find innovative ways for its fans to enjoy America’s National Pastime and a truly global game. For more information on Major League Baseball, visit www.MLB.com.
About Budweiser
Anheuser-Busch and its employees build on a legacy of corporate social responsibility by focusing on three key areas: promoting alcohol responsibility, preserving and protecting the environment and supporting local communities. In the past three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have invested more than $1 billion in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to encourage responsible drinking and prevent underage drinking and drunk driving. Anheuser-Busch reduced total water use at its breweries 15 percent over the last 5 years and by 48 percent over the last 10 years. The company has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years. Since 1997, Anheuser-Busch and its Foundation have invested in local communities through donations of more than $573 million to charitable organizations. The company also has provided more than 73.6 million cans of emergency drinking water to people impacted by natural and other disasters since 1988. Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer. For more information, visit www.anheuserbusch.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, governmental traffic safety experts, and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. TEAM Coalition's members and supporters include Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Americrown, Aramark, Delaware North Sportservice, Legends, Spectra, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Constellation, HEINEKEN USA, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, the International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association, Live Nation, Contemporary Services Corporation, the National Association of Broadcasters and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For more information, go to TEAMCoalition.org, FansDontLetFansDriveDrunk.org
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