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Online Auction June 29-July 9; Day Long ESPN Radio On-Air Auction July 9

The sixth annual “Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction” – which will continue to feature hundreds of items and experiences for bid from Tuesday, June 29 to Friday, July 9 – will be highlighted by the debut of a sweepstakes opportunity for Mike & Mike in the Morning to originate from a fan’s home. Also, listeners will be able to donate by text messaging for the first time. Mike & Mike in the Morning is hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. ET on ESPN Radio, ESPN2 HD and www.espnradio.com. Details of the auction and online items and experiences are available on espnradio.com. Net proceeds from the auction benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Mike & Mike will Broadcast from Your Home Sweepstakes

Every minimum $50 donation from June 29 to July 9 via www.espnradio.com will qualify as a single entry into the Mike & Mike will Broadcast from Your Home Sweepstakes, Presented by Coors Light with the show originating from the winner’s home or property. Fans may enter multiple times with every minimum $50 donation counting as a single entry.

Auction Cause, an independent facilitator of non-profit auctions, will oversee and manage the sweepstakes. The company will print each entry on to an individual card, place all of them into a container and draw one card on Monday, July 12. The winner will be announced on Mike & Mike in the Morning July 12 at 9 a.m.

More information on how to donate for the sweepstakes rules, including how to submit an entry without a purchase or contribution, is available at www.espnradio.com.

The past two “Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auctions” featured Mike & Mike in the Morning broadcasting from a fan’s home as an auction item with the highest bidder winning the experience. The experience raised more than $50,000 in each year.

Texting Campaign

For the first time, people wishing to contribute in the fight against cancer as part of the “Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction” can make a donation via text messages from June 29 to July 11. To participate, people will text ESPNV, a space and the dollar amount they wish to contribute to the number 27138. Following the text, the person will receive a call with a recording from Mike Greenberg providing directions on how to complete the donation via their credit card. Standard text rates will apply.

“Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction”

The majority of the more than 340 experiences and items in the auction will be available online via www.espnradio.com or www.ebay.com (June 29 to July 9) while 38 fan “experiences” will be auctioned in an 18-hour radiothon across ESPN Radio’s six national shows on Friday, July 9 beginning at 6 a.m. ET. Listeners call 1-800-4JimmyV to make bids on an item in the radiothon with the highest bidder at 59 minutes past each hour winning the experience.

The opening bid for every online auction item and experience will begin at a $1.99. Items available online include autographed jerseys, footballs, basketballs, baseballs, hats, shoes, helmets, boxing gloves and photos.

ESPN Radio and online experiences available for auction include:

• Special access ticket packages to sporting events involving top professional and college teams as well as the Breeders’ Cup, US Open, a Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Baseball telecast, Little League World Series, and more;
• A trip to College GameDay where the winner will hand Lee Corso a mascot head from behind the set;
• Trips to ESPN’s headquarters to visit various shows – including Mike & Mike in the Morning, The Herd with Colin Cowherd; SportsNation, Baseball Tonight, ESPN’s college football and basketball studio coverage – or other on-campus experiences such as golfing with ESPN commentators, being a highlight producer for a day and having a child’s birthday party;
• VIP passes to Jimmy Kimmel Live;
• Having the headshot of a winning bidder placed on a stick positioned with the athletes and celebrities on the set of Pardon the Interruption or created into a bobblehead to be placed on the Mike & Mike in the Morning set.

Last year’s ESPN Radio “Don’t Give Up” ESPYs V Foundation Auction raised $1,035,512 for The V Foundation for Cancer Research, a 415 percent increase from the inaugural event’s total of $201,000 in 2005. The event has raised more than $3,650,000 in its five years.

The event is one of Team ESPN’s corporate outreach initiatives which will coincide with the ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic on July 13 and the ESPYs July 14, live on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is the country’s largest sports radio network, providing more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content annually to more than 750 stations, including owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh, and more than 350 full-time affiliates. ESPN Radio event programming features the NBA (and The Finals), MLB (and the World Series) and college football’s BCS (and regular-season schedule) as well as the Kentucky Derby, the USGA’s U.S. Open, and this year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup. Weekday studio programming includes: Mike and Mike in the Morning (Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic), 6-10 a.m. ET; The Herd with Colin Cowherd, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; The Scott Van Pelt Show (1-4 p.m.); and The Doug Gottlieb Show (4-7 p.m.). Additionally, ESPNRadio.com is the most-listened-to sports radio destination online and most-listened-to digital audio stream in the world, with an average of more than 420,000 monthly listeners and nearly 1.9 million total sessions per month. ESPN Radio content is also available via ESPN’s more than 100 podcasts on iTunes and ESPN’s PodCenter, which are downloaded an average of more than 9.2 million times per month.

The V Foundation

The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, legendary North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator. Since 1993, The Foundation has raised more than $95 million to fund cancer research grants nationwide. It awards 100 percent of all direct cash donations and net proceeds of events directly to cancer research and related programs. The Foundation, which has received seven consecutive top 4-star ratings from Charity Navigator, awards grants through a competitive awards process strictly supervised by a Scientific Advisory Board. For more information on The V Foundation or to make a donation, please visit www.jimmyv.org.

Team ESPN

Team ESPN encompasses ESPN’s multi-faceted corporate outreach programs including volunteerism, corporate giving and cause marketing, while utilizing its diverse media assets. Through Team ESPN, ESPN, its employees, and its fans work together to make a difference in our world and the communities in which we work. Team ESPN… Fans Helping Fans ® www.teamespn.com.

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