Alexandria, VA, Jan. 25, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While football fans everywhere focus their attention on the 2012 Pro Bowl on January 29, 2012 and Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012, Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM) Coalition and Hillard Heintze, a leading private strategic security advisory and management company, announced the eligibility of the winners of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards (RHIR) sweepstakes for Designated Drivers.
Carol Trueblood, the Indianapolis Colts Designated Driver for the Season, is on her way to Honolulu, Hawaii to enjoy the Pro Bowl and cheer on Dwight Freeney, the Colts Pro Bowl selection at defensive end.
The two grand prize winners of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards sweepstakes - Thomas Walsh, Designated Driver of the Season for the New York Giants, and Scott Osterman, Designated Driver of the Season for the New England Patriots - will be provided airfare to Indianapolis and two tickets each to watch their respective teams vie for the Super Bowl XLVI championship at Lucas Oil Stadium.
RHIR is in its ninth season with the NFL. All thirty-two teams offer fans a designated-driver program at the stadiums. Fans who pledge to be designated drivers must be over the age of twenty-one, promise not to drink alcohol at the game and provide safe transportation home for their friends and family. That pledge to be responsible is also an entry into the sweepstakes. At the end of the regular season, each team selected a Designated Driver for the Season. The Designated Drivers for the Season representing the two teams competing in Super Bowl XLVI receive the trip to Super Bowl. Trueblood - the Pro Bowl trip winner - was randomly selected from the remaining Designated Drivers for the Season representing NFL teams that did not qualify for the postseason.
This season, a record number of fans - over 220,000 - pledged to be designated drivers during games at the thirty-one stadiums across the country. That is 30% increase over last season’s 170,000 designated drivers.
"We are thrilled that this year, more NFL fans than ever before have chosen to make the roads safer by electing to be the designated driver for their friends and family," said Jill Pepper, Executive Director of the TEAM Coalition. "This is a very strong sign that our message, ‘Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk,’ is resonating with the public and - by extension - saving lives."
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 members are united by a shared mission to enhance the entertainment experience, provide effective alcohol management training in public assembly facilities and promote responsible alcohol consumption through the use of positive messages that reward responsible behavior and help to reduce negative alcohol-related incidents both in facilities and on surrounding roadways, recognizing that the vast majority of fans are responsible.
"We’re delighted to be partnering on this campaign," said Arnette Heintze, CEO of Hillard Heintze. "By rewarding designated drivers, TEAM and the NFL are making it safer not only at the games but also for all of the drivers on the roads near the facility after the game ends." Hillard Heintze conducts the background checks for the winners using the technology and services of S2Verify, LLC, one of the fastest growing companies in the employee screening market and the leading screening industry process innovator."
In addition to the Super Bowl, Hillard Heintze will partner with TEAM Coalition to provide similar background screening services for the Designated Drivers for the Season from sports teams who will compete in the NCAA® Men’s Final Four® and NCAA® Women’s Final Four® and Championship games in April 2012 and the 2012 NBA Finals® in June 2012. Hillard Heintze conducts the background checks for the winners using S2Verify and their advanced, revolutionary background screening technology and new search algorithm that uses advanced artificial intelligence software to quickly analyze millions of unique data sources.
About TEAM Coalition
TEAM Coalition is an alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaries, stadium service providers, the beer industry, 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, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, Contemporary Services Corporation, Elite Show Services, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For more information, go to www.TEAMCoalition.org or www.RHIR.org.
About Hillard Heintze
Hillard Heintze provides the strategic thought leadership, trusted counsel and end-to-end services that help leading public and private corporations as well as government agencies and major public service organizations advance best-in-class security strategies and investigations to protect and preserve the safety of their people, property, performance and reputation. For the last three years, Hillard Heintze has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of America's fastest-growing private companies - and ranked on the annual Inc. 500/5000 list as No. 242 in 2009, No. 583 in 2010, and No. 764 in 2011. The company has also been acknowledged by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) as #6 on its 2011 list of the 100 fastest-growing inner city firms in the United States.
For more information, go to www.hillardheintze.com.