MLB Advanced Media and Major League Baseball Players Association Reach Exclusive Agreement; MLBAM Acquires PA Online Rights

MLB Advanced Media and Major League Baseball Players Association Reach Exclusive Agreement; MLBAM Acquires PA Online Rights NEW YORK, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Major League Baseball Advanced Media, LP. ("MLBAM"), and the Major League Baseball Players Association ("MLBPA") today announced that they have agreed to an exclusive relationship combining the personal attributes and marketing power of Major League baseball players as a group with the trademarks, symbols and logos of Major League Baseball and its teams for exploitation through interactive media. The historic agreement is expected to aggressively grow the presence and penetration of Major League Baseball and its players on the Internet and provide more robust tools and experiences for baseball fans around the world. The five-year agreement, valued in excess of $50 million, extends beyond the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLBPA. It provides MLBAM the exclusive rights to use, and to sublicense to others, Major League baseball player group rights for the development and creation of on-line games, all other online content, including fantasy baseball and interactive games, as well as all wireless applications including cell-phone enabled games. Through this groundbreaking arrangement, MLBAM will have the right to implement off-line advertising, sponsorship and promotions in support of its on-line partners, and Major League baseball player rights will be more extensively integrated throughout the official Major League Baseball website, MLB.com, and the thirty Major League team sites for an interactive experience including fantasy baseball and other games, merchandise and memorabilia auctions featuring player autographs and other unique player items, as well as player chats, diaries and special experiences. MLB.com will host the official MLBPA website, to be re-launched as MLBplayers.com, the Players Choice on the web. The official pages of all members of the Major League Baseball Players Association also will be hosted on MLB.com. "This agreement will leverage both player and League rights to benefit Major League Baseball fans and business partners," said Judy Heeter, Director of Business Affairs and Licensing for the MLBPA. "We are especially pleased by all the creative opportunities it provides to expand the reach and enhance the value of the interactive experience for baseball fans everywhere." "We are pleased to unite with the players as we continue our efforts to enhance the reach of this great game through digital media," said Bob Bowman, CEO of MLBAM. About the MLBPA The Major League Baseball Players Association is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the thirty Major League Baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and Players Choice Awards, which benefit the needy through the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation established and run entirely by Major League baseball players. About MLB.com Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners to centralize all of Baseball's Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, http://www.mlb.com/, and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the most comprehensive Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans the most complete baseball information on the web, including up- to-date statistics, game summaries, extensive historical information, and exclusive features about Major League Baseball events and programs, including on-line ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of every game, live and archived video webcasts of entire games, pitch-by-pitch enactment of games, and hosted post-game video highlight shows. MLB.com offers more live events on the Internet than any other website in the world. Source: MLB Advanced Media L.P. CONTACT: Jim Gallagher of MLB.com, +1-212-485-3182, or cell: +1-914-953-1103; or Greg Bouris of MLB Players Association, +1-212-826-0808 Web site: http://www.mlb.com/ http://www.mlbplayers.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment