2008 USA Softball KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour Nominated for a SportsTravel Award
8/26/2008

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Thanks to the support of the local associations of ASA and sponsors, the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour has been nominated for a 2008 SportsTravel Award announced today by the Amateur Softball Association. Events are nominated and then voted upon by readers of SportsTravel, the sports world's event magazine at SportsTravelMagazine.com

"Events such as this one are a prime example of the achievement of excellence in the organization and management of sporting events," said Timothy Schneider, publisher of SportsTravel magazine, which organizes the TEAMS Conference & Expo. "SportsTravel readers are the leaders of the sports-event industry and they know what it takes to execute a high-quality event," said Schneider. "The SportsTravel Awards program is an opportunity for them to honor their peers for a job well done."

Throughout the 60 games, beginning in Tucson, AZ, and wrapping up in Irvine, the team played in front of over 200,00 people in 45 cities. In front of amazing crowds and supportive fans, the team kicked off competition Feb. 19 and experienced a diverse amount of USA hospitality. The team surpassed many records during this tour including setting a Tour record attendance of 8,724 in Bowie, Md. It was the largest crowd in pre-Olympic Tour and was just shy of the all-time attendance record; at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games as 8,750 people were in attendance at the gold medal game as the U.S. defeated China 3-1 for their first Olympic Gold.

"The tour was a great chance for us to get out and touch fans across the country," said two-time Olympian Cat Osterman. "It was so fun to visit places we have never visited and be the main event for the night. It was a way of preparation but it was also so fun exciting and something players and fans alike enjoy."

The ratings for the eight original games that aired on ESPN averaged a 0.55 national rating while the 11 original airings on ESPN2 averaged a 0.28. In total, over 10 million households tuned to watch the KFC Bound 4 Beijing US Tour in over 25 different airings on the ESPN family of networks.

"The KFC Bound 4 Beijing US Tour impacted millions of American households as our USA Softball team prepared for Beijing," said Director of Marketing Kelly McKeown. "Seeing and hearing the inspiring stories of little girls that dream to become members of Team USA is at the heart of this property and why the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) will continue to drive the development of the USA Softball program."

Criteria for nomination and voting include superior organization of and attendance at the event, a superior experience for the competitors and/or spectators at the event, and how the site or venue served to enhance the event. Final balloting is open through September 15, 2008. Winners will be announced at the TEAMS 2008 Conference & Expo, October 21-25, 2008, in Pittsburgh. Official ballots are available in the August and September issues of SportsTravel magazine. Readers may also find more information and vote online at SportsTravelMagazine. The ballot includes nominees in amateur, collegiate and professional categories. Awards in those three categories will be given for best single-sport event, best multi-sport or multi-discipline event, and best sports event series or circuit. Voters will also pick the best new sports event and an overall Sports Event of the Year from among the nominated events.

About ASA

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, please visit ASA web site.

About USA Softball

USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men's, Women's, Junior Boys' and Junior Girls' National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of the only two women's sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit USA Softball web site.

About KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour

The KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour is a 45-city nationwide pre-Olympic tour for the USA Softball Women's National team as they prepare to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Beginning in February, the tour reaches every corner of the country including 23 states while Team USA prepares with 62 total games. The tour consists of five consecutive weekly national televised games on ESPN2 in April and May along with two other bonus games plus four games slated for July that rounds out over 22 hours of original USA Softball branded programming on the ESPN family of networks. Along with the title sponsor, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), other national tour sponsors include Dermabond and Lumber Liquidators.

This article is a reprint, with some editorial modifications, of a press release from the Amateur Softball Association.