MELT seeking to secure a title sponsorship for the Mobile-based college football All-Star game, showcasing best NFL Draft prospects.

Mobile, AL…. The Senior Bowl, the Mobile, Alabama based college football All-Star game showcasing the best NFL Draft prospects in the country has named Atlanta-based Sports and Entertainment agency, MELT (www.meltatl.com) as their official sales and marketing agency.

MELT’s first assignment will be to secure a title sponsorship for the contest, which will be held at Mobile’s Ladd-Peebles Stadium on January 26, 2013. The annual game, started in 1950, has been televised on the NFL Network since 2007. Since its inception, the game has raised nearly $8mm for youth-related charities through its parent organization, The Mobile Arts and Sports Association.

“We are honored the Senior Bowl chose us for this prestigious assignment,” said MELT President/CEO Vince Thompson. “I attended my first Senior Bowl in 1972 and I’ve always loved the Senior Bowl and the exposure and opportunity it has provided to showcase the NFL’s best prospects and bring attention to Mobile and the Gulf Coast area.”

Phil Savage, the new Executive Director of The Senior Bowl and former General Manager of the Cleveland Browns echoed Thompson’s statements.

“We think the Senior Bowl has a unique position along the timeline of the NFL Draft,” Savage said.  “The untapped, long-term potential of our game as the bridge from college to professional football is enormous.  And, with the NFL Network’s new distribution agreement with Time Warner Cable now in place, our footprint is only going to grow in the future.”

The addition of Mobile native Savage, who also serves as the color analyst for the Alabama Crimson Tide radio broadcasts, brings an air of credibility with his 20-year background in the NFL as a coach, scout, player personnel director, and general manager.

“The Senior Bowl is the only college all-star game in the country coached by current NFL coaches and attended by all 32 NFL teams.  We look forward to continuing to grow, enhance and expand this event as one of the critical steps in the pre-draft process,” said Savage.

The weeklong celebration of prospective NFL talent now includes the annual National Scouting Weigh-In, one-on-one interviews, practices, the new Senior Bowl Banquet featuring both rosters and head coaches, and the Senior Bowl Experience & Meet The Players event.

Plans are to expand the mobile and digital content offerings to satisfy the continued growing fan/demand for all things NFL draft, as evidenced by growing popularity of the NFL Combine, the NFL Draft and other activities surrounding the NFL Rookie class. The Senior Bowl also plans to develop and sustain an annual calendar of Senior Bowl related activities including their Charity Run, Hall of Fame induction ceremony, youth football camps, and a potential high school football kickoff classic.

“The NFL is the most popular sport in the country followed closely by college football and we look forward to merging the two in Mobile during Senior Bowl Week” said Savage.

Savage said MELT’s enthusiasm for the vision of the game coupled with their expertise in working with major national media organizations; major national corporations; sales expertise and the event/social/digital media frontier were several of the reasons The Senior Bowl chose to work with MELT.

“MELT demonstrated a genuine desire to both understand and embrace our vision, of the game’s future as well as their willingness to creatively grow and enhance our event to an unprecedented level in the future.

The 2012 Senior Bowl featured NFL Coaches Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings and Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins. Current NFL players that have participated in the Senior Bowl include Clay Matthews III of the Green Bay Packers, Demarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, and Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers.  The game has also featured 20 Pro Football Hall of Famers, including Joe Namath and Walter Payton.

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About The Senior Bowl:
The Senior Bowl is college football’s premier senior showcase event, annually featuring the nation’s best senior collegiate football stars and top NFL draft prospects on teams coached by NFL coaching staffs. Senior Bowl practices and game week festivities are attended by more than 800 general managers, head coaches, assistant coaches, scouts and other front office personnel from all 32 National Football League teams, making Mobile and the Senior Bowl the week-long host to a one-of-a-kind NFL Coaches Convention.  For more information on the 2013 Senior Bowl please visit the bowl’s website at www.seniorbowl.com.

About MELT:
MELT LLC is a fully-integrated Atlanta-based integrated sports and entertainment marketing firm. MELT’s award winning work has won acclaim such as Adweek’s Buzz Marketer of the Year, Event Marketer Ex-Awards and “It” List, MARCOM Gold Award, and Best in Atlanta, among others. MELT has full in-house production capabilities and has produced branded content for some of the biggest brands in the world. MELT has begun work on its 11th NCAA Men’s Final Four for the Coca-Cola Company in 2013; Powerade;  Kia Motors of America; State Farm Insurance; Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Tourism, The Atlantic Coast Conference, First Data Corporation, PrimeSport, Taco Mac, Hangout Music Fest, and many others.