Bridgestone Brand Becomes Presenting Sponsor of Mark Messier Leadership AwardBridgestone also teams with Messier to create Youth Leadership Award
NASHVILLE/NEW YORK/MONTREAL (Jan. 26, 2009) — Bridgestone Americas along with the National Hockey League, the National Hockey League Players’ Association and Mark Messier, announced at Saturday’s 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend in Montreal that the Bridgestone brand has secured the presenting sponsorship of the Mark Messier Leadership Award.
The Mark Messier Leadership Award Presented by Bridgestone is an award that recognizes an individual as a superior leader in hockey, and as a contributing member of society. The award honors an individual who leads by positive example through on-ice performance, motivation of team members and a dedication to community activities and charitable causes. Past winners include Chris Chelios and Mats Sundin.
In addition, to expand its partnerships with the NHL and Messier, and to broaden its strong promotion of the leadership message at every level, the Bridgestone Brand is creating the Bridgestone Mark Messier Youth Leadership Award to encourage leadership, community spirit and to reward youth hockey players or mentor/coaches for their contributions to youth sports or education. (For complete award and nomination guidelines for the Bridgestone Mark Messier Youth Leadership Award please visit: www.bridgestonetire.com/Messier)
“I’m very excited about my partnership with Bridgestone,” Messier said. “It’s a company which shares my passion for excellence and community service. I’m very gratified Bridgestone will be sponsoring my NHL Leadership Award as well as a Youth Leadership Award in my name to reward an amateur player or coach who represents aspects of youth hockey that really make a difference: courage, leadership and community spirit.” Messier concluded.
The Bridgestone Mark Messier Youth Leadership Award will go to the United States or Canadian resident involved in amateur hockey judged to have overcome adversity in achieving his or her goal or dream; promoted community service by promoting youth sports or excellence in academics for athletes; or who has enabled underprivileged kids to partake in hockey.
The award will also be open to individuals who have served as mentors or coaches and through their involvement over the years in amateur hockey, have made a significant difference in the lives of kids in one or several roles, including coach, league administrator, sponsor, or game officiating, timing and scoring, etc.
“Whether it’s on the road, on the ice or at the rink, leadership can take many forms,” said Phil Pacsi, Vice President N.A. Consumer Tire Marketing, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, and (BATO). “We are delighted to align another NHL marketing platform to the Bridgestone Brand with Mark Messier, who set the standard for leadership on the ice and off. Mark also uniquely enables Bridgestone Brand to promote and reward community leadership throughout North America.”
“Bridgestone is a global leader, and aligning with Mark Messier, one of the greatest leaders in sports, is a natural,” said Keith Wachtel, NHL Senior Vice President of Integrated Sales and Marketing. “We are delighted that Bridgestone continues to take advantage of the NHL’s global brand and the multiple, integrated corporate marketing platforms we offer our partners.”
Serving as title sponsor for The Mark Messier Leadership Award Presented by Bridgestone is just one of numerous exclusive promotional opportunities for the Bridgestone brand as part of the multi-year agreement between Bridgestone Americas Tire Operation, LLC (BATO), Bridgestone Canada Inc. (BSCA) and the NHL. This includes title sponsorship of the Bridgestone International Series in Prague and Stockholm in 2008, the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009, the Bridgestone Greatest NHL Captains program -- an on-line promotion on NHL.com that enables fans to pick the greatest captains in NHL history -- as well as prominent brand exposure in premier NHL events like the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL Entry Draft and the NHL All-Star Game.
About Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations:
Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is a business unit of Bridgestone Americas, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. Reporting into the BATO business unit are the company's Latin American tire operations, the U.S. and Canadian consumer tire businesses and the U.S. and Canadian commercial tire businesses. BATO develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires. The business unit is focused on retail, wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off road, motorcycle, agricultural and other tires to its customers in the Americas. In addition, through its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions unit, retreading customers have access to industry-leading research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales expertise, providing them with a total tire solution.
About the NHL:
The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 30 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters. According to a Simmons Market Research study, NHL fans are younger, more educated, more affluent, and access content through digital means more than any other sport. The NHL entertains more than 100 million fans each season in-arena and through its partners in national television (VERSUS, NBC, TSN, CBC, RDS, RIS, NASN, ASN and NHL Network) and radio (NHL Radio, Sirius XM Radio and XM Canada). Through the NHL Foundation, the League’s charitable arm, the NHL raises money and awareness for Hockey Fights Cancer and NHL Youth Development, and supports the charitable efforts of NHL players. For more information on the NHL, log on to NHL.com.
About the National Hockey League Players’ Association:
The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), established in 1967, is a labour organization whose members are the players in the National Hockey League (NHL). The NHLPA works on behalf of the players in varied disciplines such as labour relations, product licensing, marketing, international hockey and community relations, all in furtherance of its efforts to promote its members and the game of hockey. In 1999, the NHLPA launched the Goals & Dreams fund as a way for the players to give something back to the game they love. The players’ program has donated full sets of hockey equipment to more than 9,000 economically disadvantaged children in 17 countries and assisted with upgrades and the building of hundreds of arenas world-wide. To date, Goals & Dreams has donated more than $17-million to grassroots hockey programs around the world making it the largest program of its kind. For more information on the NHLPA, please visit nhlpa.com.
NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks and NHL Winter Classic, the word mark Stanley Cup, NHL Network and NHL Radio are trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and NHL team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams. All Rights Reserved.
NHLPA is a registered trademark of the National Hockey League Players’ Association. All Rights Reserved.