Alexandria, VA, Dec. 01, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While MLS supporters everywhere focus their attention on the 2015 MLS Cup on December 6, 2015, Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM) Coalition and Hillard Heintze, a leading private strategic security advisory and management company, announced the eligibility of the winners of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards (RHIR) sweepstakes for Designated Drivers.
The two grand prize winners of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards sweepstakes – Michael Flickinger , Designated Driver for the Season for Columbus Crew SC, and Andrea Tyler, Designated Driver for the Season for the Portland Timbers – will be provided two tickets each to watch their respective clubs play in the 2015 MLS Cup at MAPFRE Stadium.
RHIR is celebrating its tenth season with Major League Soccer. Supporters who pledge to be designated drivers at participating venues must be over the legal drinking age, promise not to drink alcohol at the game and provide safe transportation home for their friends and family. That pledge to be responsible is also an entry into the sweepstakes. At the end of the regular season, each club selected a Designated Driver for the Season. The Designated Drivers for the Season representing the two clubs competing in MLS Cup each receive two tickets to the championship match. A third winner – receiving a trip to the 2016 MLS All-Star Game – will be randomly selected from the remaining Designated Drivers for the Season representing the clubs that did not qualify for MLS Cup.
This season, approximately 32,000 supporters pledged to be designated drivers during games at MLS stadiums across the United States and Canada.
“More and more MLS supporters are helping make our roads safer by choosing to be the designated driver for their friends and family,” said Jill Pepper, executive director of TEAM Coalition. “This tells me that our message, ‘Responsibility Has Its Rewards,’ is helping raise public awareness and – by extension – saving lives.”
TEAM Coalition members are united by a shared mission to enhance the entertainment experience, provide effective alcohol management training in public assembly facilities and promote responsible alcohol consumption through the use of positive messages that reward responsible behavior and help to reduce negative alcohol-related incidents both in facilities and on surrounding roadways, recognizing that the vast majority of fans are responsible.
“MLS and TEAM Coalition are doing a terrific job,” said Arnette Heintze, CEO of Hillard Heintze, “and we are thrilled to be partnering with TEAM. We are deeply committed to keeping supporters and their families – and other people on our roads safe.” Hillard Heintze conducts the background checks for the winners using the advanced technology and services of S2Verify, LLC, one of the fastest growing companies in the employee screening market and the leading screening industry process innovator.
In addition to the 2015 MLS Cup, Hillard Heintze will partner with TEAM Coalition to provide similar background screening services for fans who pledge to be responsible and therefore become entered to win a trip to collegiate and professional sporting events including Super Bowl 50 in February 2016 and the NCAA ® Men’s Final Four ® plus the NCAA ® Women’s Final Four ® in April 2016.
About TEAM Coalition TEAM Coalition is an alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaries, stadium service providers, the beer industry, distillers, broadcasters, traffic safety experts and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. TEAM Coalition members and supporters include Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Americrown, Aramark, Delaware North Sportservice, Legends, Spectra, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Anheuser-Busch, Constellation Brands, HEINEKEN USA, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, Contemporary Services Corporation, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
About Hillard Heintze Hillard Heintze provides the strategic thought leadership, trusted counsel and end-to-end services that help leading public and private corporations as well as government agencies and major public service organizations advance best-in-class security strategies and investigations to protect and preserve the safety of their people, property, performance and reputation. For three years in a row, Hillard Heintze has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of America's fastest-growing private companies – and ranked on the annual Inc. 500/5000 list as No. 242 in 2009, No. 583 in 2010, and No. 764 in 2011. The company has also been acknowledged by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) as one of the 100 fastest-growing inner city firms in the United States, ranking #6 in the nation in 2011 and #11 in 2012. Headquartered in Chicago, Hillard Heintze also has operations in Washington D.C., Raleigh, Boston, Miami, Cincinnati, San Jose and Virginia Beach, as well as operating capabilities across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Asia.
For more information, please visit TEAMCoalition.org and hillardheintze.com .
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Jill Pepper, TEAM Coalition - 703-647-7431 - jill@teamcoalition.org
