Super Bowl Card Show Coming to Tampa
Donruss will sponsor this year’s Super Bowl Card Show in Tampa, set for the week of the big game.
Donruss has reached an agreement with the NFL to become the “Official Trading Card Sponsor of the NFL Experience” for Super Bowl XLIII. The NFL Experience is pro football’s interactive fan festival offering autograph sessions, participatory games, clinics and what’s billed as the ‘largest football card show in the world’.
The agreement also allows Donruss access to officially licensed Super Bowl XLIII memorabilia, including game-used equipment, such as footballs and end zone pylons, and Super Bowl XLII ticket stubs. All of these items will be incorporated into future trading card programs. Topps had served as the event sponsor for the last decade.
“Our goal at Donruss has been to market around the NFL’s marquee events, so being a title sponsor at an NFL signature event, the NFL Experience, takes our marketing efforts to another level,” said Donruss Vice President of Sales & Marketing Mike Anderson. “By adding in sponsorships at the Pro Bowl and NFL Draft, we hope to expose an entirely new audience to the Donruss brand.”
The card show hours are sometimes difficult to pin down, but the NFL Experience will begin Saturday, January 24, run for a couple of days, then pick up again later in the week. The NFL says it will have 50 current and former players signing autographs during the week, with a total of 10,000 free autographs being distributed. Tickets to the NFL Experience, which incudes the card show, are $18.50 for ages 12 and older and $12.50 for those under the age of 12.
There will be a live auction the day before the Super Bowl from 3 PM to 4 PM, with numerous game-used and vintage pro football memorabilia set for the sale. Hunt Auctions is running that event
The Donruss sponsorship will include this year’s Pro Bowl and the exclusive designation as the “Official Trading Card of the 2009 NFL Draft.” Specific details on Donruss’ plans for these events will be released in the coming weeks, but the agreement will grant Donruss access to additional game-used memorabilia and unique photo opportunities at both events.
“We are excited to have Donruss on board as a title sponsor at this year’s Trading Card Show at NFL Experience,” said NFL Director of Consumer Products Rich Seidlitz. “This is great exposure for the category and a creative way for Donruss to get its brand out in front of millions of NFL football fans.”
“We felt the memorabilia from these events would be a great way to enhance our programs throughout 2009,” adds Anderson. “With the excitement about the Pro Bowl moving to South Florida next year and the growing popularity of NFL Draft day, we’re excited at the prospects of gaining exposure for Donruss and our products during these NFL events.”
