NFL Pink is Back; Game Used Gear to Be Signed, Sold for Charity

The National Football League and NFL Players Association kicked off October’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with their fourth-annual national breast cancer screening initiative and fundraising campaign that includes pink game-worn and game-used gear that will be sold at auction. In collaboration with the American Cancer Society, the initiative, called “A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives,” reminds women 40 and older about the importance of having an annual mammogram.

To date, the partnership has raised more than $3 million for the American Cancer Society, with the majority of the donation coming from the sale of pink items at retail and on NFL Auction.

Beginning this year, money raised through A Crucial Catch will support the American Cancer Society’s Community Health Advocates National Grants for Empowerment (CHANGE) program. This program provides outreach and breast cancer screenings to women who need them. The NFL markets being supported in the first year of the program are Atlanta, Baltimore, New England, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Pink wristbands, cleats, gloves, towels and other memorabilia was used in last night’s game between the Bears and Cowboys in Dallas.  Continuing throughout the month, NFL breast cancer awareness games will feature:

• Game balls with pink ribbon decals used for every down and pink kicking tees
• Pink equipment for players including: cleats, wristbands, gloves, sideline caps, helmet decals,  captains’ patches, chin straps, shoe laces, skull caps, sideline towels, eye shield decals and quarterback towels
• Pink coins used for the coin toss
• Pink sideline caps for coaches and sideline personnel and pink ribbon pins for coaches and team executives
• Pink caps, wristbands, whistles and pins for game officials
• On-field pink ribbon stencils and A Crucial Catch wall banners
• Pink goal post padding in end zones
• Breast cancer awareness pompoms, shirts and wristbands for cheerleaders

Game-worn pink merchandise and footballs will be autographed post-game and auctioned at NFL Auction (www.nfl.com/auction).  All NFL Auction proceeds from the sale of breast cancer awareness items during the month of October will benefit the American Cancer Society. Special pink merchandise will also be available at www.NFLShop.com, www.neweracap.com, www.nike.com, in stadium retail stores, at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hatworld and Lids, with a portion of proceeds going to breast cancer charities.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for more than 30 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]