PRESS RELEASES

Papajohns.com Bowl Names Joe Dean Jr. as Chairman of Community Relations

The Papajohns.com Bowl announced today that Joe Dean Jr. has agreed to serve as Chairman of Community Relations for the postseason bowl in Birmingham, Ala. The 2008 Papajohns.com Bowl will be played at Legion Field on Dec. 29. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN and broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio.

Dean will continue as the Athletics Director at Birmingham-Southern College, where he has served since 1999. Dean also was the head basketball coach at Birmingham-Southern from 1983-1989 and posted a 137-45 record. In 1994 he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.

“I am honored to accept this role with the Papajohns.com Bowl,” said Dean, who also is a color analyst for the SEC’s basketball broadcasts. “Mark Meadows and the entire bowl staff are doing a wonderful job in building an event our great city can be proud of and I am excited to be a part of it.

“Not only will the Papajohns.com Bowl continue to bring tremendous economic impact and tourism to our area, it will also provide the Magic City national exposure. We have so much to be proud of in Birmingham, and I feel strongly that the Papajohns.com Bowl is a special opportunity for us to showcase our great community in a fun and exciting way.”

“We are very pleased that Joe Dean has agreed to join our team as the Chairman of Community Relations,” said Mark Meadows, Executive Director of the Papajohns.com Bowl. “Joe is very active in the community and has developed a great relationship with the local media. He will definitely be an asset in keeping the Birmingham community and our fans informed about our game.”

The Papajohns.com Bowl is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television (ERT), which markets and owns five other bowl games — the St. Petersburg Bowl, Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and New Mexico Bowl.

Tickets for the 2008 Papajohns.com Bowl are scheduled to go on sale June 1. For more information visit www.papajohnsbowl.com.

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION/EVENT OWNERSHIP
The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – Big East, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, Western Athletic).
ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including the Bell Helicopter Armed Forced Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Football Classic; the National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway; and collegiate basketball events including the Spartan Clash (Auburn Hills, Mich.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City, Okla.); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.).

PAPA JOHN’S
Headquartered in Louisville, Ky., Papa John's is the world's third largest pizza company with nearly 3,000 restaurants operating in 49 states and 25 countries. For seven years running, consumers have rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national QSR chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John's at www.papajohns.com.