National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and Bank of America Announce National Partnership

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and Bank of America Announce National Partnership

Multi-Year Agreement Extends Company's Relationship With Baseball

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. and CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the shrine which honors Baseball's greats and its rich history, and Bank of America, one of the world's largest financial institutions, today announced a three-year partnership for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 baseball seasons, giving Bank of America the exclusive rights to produce Hall of Fame vignettes featuring Hall of Fame members, for broadcast use. The multi-year agreement is its first with the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bank of America is also the Official Bank of Baseball(TM), which includes exclusive national agreements with Major League Baseball(R), Minor League Baseball(TM) and Little League Baseball(C).

The two organizations will team up to produce "Higher Standards" Hall of Fame moments for FSN and affiliated regional game telecasts of 9 Major League Baseball teams. The vignettes will run in FSN telecasts covering Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals games from 2006-2008. In addition, the vignettes will air during regional telecasts of the Baltimore Orioles (Comcast Mid-Atlantic), Chicago Cubs (Comcast Chicago), New York Yankees (YES Network), and the San Diego Padres (COX4 San Diego). All teams are a part of Bank of America's FSN Home Team Access national sponsorship which provides local execution on a national scale.

"Baseball is at the core of American life, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is the game's national shrine. Bank of America is proud to partner with the Hall of Fame which honors excellence and represents values that are wholly consistent with our commitment to pursuing a higher level of achievement for our customers and communities," said Rick Parsons, sponsorship and regional marketing executive for Bank of America. "In creating these vignettes, it is our hope that we can help people all across the country connect with the heritage and pageantry of America's pastime and share in all that is best about the game."

"We are very excited about this landmark partnership with an institution of the highest quality, Bank of America," said Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark. "Bank of America has devoted itself to 'Higher Standards,' as we do, every day. As an educational institution, our mission is to preserve history, honor excellence and connect generations. Through this partnership, we can further our goals while reaching millions of baseball fans across the country."

A total of 40 Hall of Famers will be individually featured in the vignettes over three years. Among the first Hall of Famers to be selected for the 2006 vignettes include: Frank Baker, Jim Bottomley, Joe McCarthy, Willie McCovey, Joe Medwick, Jim Palmer, Ozzie Smith, Duke Snider, Dazzy Vance and Hack Wilson.

Parsons added that the new partnership takes the Bank's involvement with baseball to a new level. In 2003, through an agreement with FSN, Bank of America became the official sponsor of game telecasts for 22 Major League Baseball teams. "Higher Standards Moments" and "Higher Standards Cameras" were incorporated into Fox coverage to capture and bring out never-before-seen game action. Last year, Bank of America built upon its sports marketing legacy by becoming the Official Bank of Baseball(TM), a sponsorship platform that includes simultaneous multi-year national agreements with Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and Little League Baseball. As part of the Major League Baseball agreement, custom Bank of America American League and National League Player of the Week vignettes have been produced and aired in all FSN Home Team Access telecasts.

The Museum's collections contain more than 35,000 three-dimensional artifacts representing all facets of the game, from its inception in the mid- 19th century to present. Three-dimensional artifacts include bats, baseballs, uniforms, player equipment, ballpark artifacts, awards, artwork, textiles, tickets, collectibles and assorted memorabilia. In addition, the Institution's archives contain in excess of 130,000 Baseball cards and 2.6 million Library items, including photographs, books, magazines, newspaper clippings, films, video and audio tapes.

Located on Main Street in the heart of picturesque Cooperstown, New York, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is one of the country's major tourist destinations and is surely the best-known sports shrine in the world. Opening its doors for the first time on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame has stood as the definitive repository of the game's treasures and as a symbol of the most profound individual honor bestowed on an athlete. It is every fan's "Field of Dreams," with its stories, legends and magic to be passed on from generation to generation.

Open seven days a week the year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, the Hall of Fame is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. through Labor Day. Off-season hours are from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily. Ticket prices are $14.50 for adults (13 and over); $9.50 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations; and $5 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children six years of age or younger, active and retired card-carrying military personnel. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/ or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an independent not-for- profit educational institution, dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime.

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving 33 million consumer relationships with more than 5,800 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 13 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 150 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 85 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/

Source: Bank of America

CONTACT: Ernie Anguilla, +1-617-346-2515, or Joe Goode, +1-617-346-4830,
both of Bank of America

Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/

-------
Profile: intent