Make-A-Wish Cardinals Football

Burg72

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For those of you who are interested in memorabilia or charity:

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For Immediate Release

Contacts: Bob Ibach (847-590-5302 or cell at 847-922-6686)
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona®: Laura Toussaint-Newkirk or Karen Mazer (602-395-9474)

Limited Edition Football Hopes To Raise Money for Make-A-Wish Youngsters

New Home of Arizona Cardinals Will Bring Smiles to Local Children

Glendale, AZ -- Cardinal fans have been talking about the facility for almost a decade, and the anticipation began to build even more when the groundbreaking ceremonies took place three springs ago, on April 12, 2003. Now, the first game is about to happen, set for September 10 against San Francisco, and all eyes of the NFL will be on the league’s newest facility.

That first official NFL game in the history of the stadium will also have some added meaning to local youngsters who have big dreams as well, thanks to an announcement that Nikco Sports will be distributing a special, limited edition football to honor the first game in Cardinals Stadium history in an effort to raise close to $40,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona, to help youngsters who have life-threatening medical conditions.

In recent years, Nikco Sports has raised more than $1.4 million for children’s charities, projects that have included several with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona.

The full-sized, 5,000 commemorative footballs will come with a handsome acrylic display case, so the owner will have an instant way of displaying the historic collectible in their home or office. Each of the colorful footballs produced will feature two special panels to chronicle the stadium’s official opening date, list an array of interesting facts about the new facility, as well as some important dates in the history of the Cardinals franchise, one that dates back to 1898 when it was founded as the Morgan Athletic Club.

The Cardinals are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the nation.

To order the footballs, priced at $99 each ($7.50 goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation), fans can call 1-800-345-2868 or order on line at www.nikcosports.com. Footballs are officially licensed by the National Football League and the Cardinals, and each one comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity.

One of the design elements which has attracted both local and national attention is the stadium’s roll-out natural grass playing field. Although this has been successful at various venues in Europe and Asia, the Glendale facility’s retractable roof and roll-out field will be the first of its kind in North America. Also of note is the stadium’s specific location, which is aligned along a slight northwest to southeast axis to offer maximum sun exposure for the grass field and maximum shade for stadium fans.

The field tray, which will be rolled out of the stadium for maintenance when the Cardinals are not in season, is 234 feet wide by 400 feet long, and it takes about 45 minutes to move in or out of the stadium. The stadium will have 63,400 permanent seats, but capacity can be expanded to 73,000 for events such as the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and future Super Bowl contests.


Panel 1 of the commemorative football will display the Cardinals official team logo along with the final score from the first regular season game against San Francisco, along with the date (September 10) and official game attendance.

The second panel will highlight new stadium facts, including information about the retractable field (including that it weighs 12 million pounds), and information on the Cardinals franchise history, including such notables as:

  • Founded in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club
  • Charter member of the NFL
  • Moved to Arizona from St. Louis in 1988 as the Phoenix Cardinals
  • Changed name to the Arizona Cardinals in 1994
  • 2 NFL titles: 1925 and 1947
  • 4 Division titled: 1947, 1948, 1974 and 1975
“The new Cardinals football home promises to deliver a lot of smiles for local fans and the roll-out natural grass field is certainly the talk of the NFL, an idea that I’m sure other new facilities will copy in years to come,” noted Nikco Sports CEO Craig Bidner. “And, making this grand opening all the more important is that this Cardinals Stadium commemorative football will generate some needed dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona®, a terrific group which we’ve had the privilege of working with in the past when we’ve recognized some special achievements involving the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns.”

During the past 14 years, Nikco Sports has enjoyed giving back to the community, raising more than $1.4 million for children’s and family charities and other needy groups in the United States through the sale of limited-edition sports collectibles. Many of the projects have honored amateur and professional teams (Super Bowl, World Series, NBA, NASCAR and NHL championships) as well as notable athletes such as (baseball) Ozzie Smith, Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken, Jr., Ryne Sandberg, Jim Thome, Adam Dunn, Randy Johnson, Paul Molitor, Kirby Puckett, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Edgar Martinez, Ichiro, Pedro Martinez, Ken Griffey, Jr; (football) Kurt Warner, Steve Young, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Dan Marino, John Elway, Brett Favre, Jim Kelly, Emmitt Smith, Carson Palmer, Jerome Bettis, Troy Aikman; (basketball) LeBron James, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, David Robinson, Magic Johnson; (motor sports) Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson; (golf) Tiger Woods.


Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona® grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Born in 1980 when a group of caring individuals helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 71 chapters in the U.S. and its territories. With the help of generous donors and nearly 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants more than 12,500 wishes a year and has granted more than 135,000 wishes in the U.S. since its inception. For more information, visit www.wish.org and discover how you can share the power of a wish.
 
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Burg72

Burg72

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Here is what the footballs look like....



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