Panini America Announces Long-Term Agreement With NFL And NFLPA

IRVING, Texas, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Panini America (www.paniniamerica.net), the world's largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, announced today that it has reached a long-term agreement with the National Football League and the NFLPA, granting the company domestic and international rights for up to 18 product releases annually.                                                     

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"We're pleased to continue our relationship with the NFL and the NFLPA," said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. "The NFL and NFLPA are two of our most important licensors, and these new agreements will enable us to continue producing sought after products for NFL fans for years to come."

The new agreement takes effect immediately and will be incorporated into Panini America's first NFL product of the season, 2012 Prestige Football, which releases in June and will include the first licensed NFL rookie cards of anticipated draft prospects such as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Justin Blackmon, Trent Richardson and more of the NFL's newest players.

"We are pleased to continue working with Panini America to offer our fans more ways to connect with the NFL and the players they love," said Leo Kane, NFL senior vice president of consumer products.  "Panini America has been – and will continue to be – a great teammate for the NFL."

"The NFLPA is pleased to extend our partnership with Panini, a proven industry leader and innovator of NFL player trading cards.  Panini football product continues to be highly pursued by hobby enthusiasts and novice collectors alike," said Keith Gordon, President of NFL PLAYERS INC., the marketing and licensing subsidiary of the NFLPA.  "We, along with our players, look forward to Panini's ongoing product development, hobby enrichment programs and support of our marquee events including the NFLPA Rookie Debut and Rookie Premiere."

Panini America is the only company in the world that manufactures licensed trading cards and stickers for the NFL, NFLPA, NBA, NHL, NHLPA, MLBPA and FIFA World Cup. The company also owns exclusive entertainment licenses with Disney, Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson, and more than 600 global licenses with other sports and entertainment properties.

ABOUT PANINI:
The Panini Group, established almost 50 years ago in Modena, Italy, has subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States.  Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles and is the most significant publisher of collectibles in the U.S., with official licenses for MLBPA, NBA, NFL, NHL, FIFA, Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and other key properties from many other licensors. Panini has distribution channels in more than 100 countries and employs a staff of over 800. For more information visit us at www.paniniamerica.net, www.paninigroup.com or www.paniniamerica.wordpress.com. You can also follow Panini America on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and on YouTube.

ABOUT NFL PLAYERS INC.
NFL PLAYERS INC. is the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association. Representing more than 1,800 NFL players, NFL PLAYERS INC. "takes the helmets off" the players and markets them as personalities as well as professional athletes. Through an exclusive sponsorship agreement with the NFL, players are integrated into NFL sponsor activations. NFL PLAYERS INC. activities include retail licensing, corporate partnerships, player marketing, special events, broadcast and publishing. For more information, please visit NFLPLAYERS.COM.

Media Contact:

Tracy Hackler, Panini America
817-662-5325
[email protected]

Joanna Hunter, NFL
212-450-2449
[email protected]

SOURCE Panini America