The Checked Flag Drops as Brandon Coppinger Returns to Goodlettsville, TN With the $10,000 Grand Prize
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2007--Electronic
Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced the winner of the 2007 EA
SPORTS™ Craftsman NASCAR® Challenge, Brandon Coppinger. After
five intense rounds of virtual racing at the Homestead-Miami Speedway,
Coppinger beat out his competitors and won the $10,000 Grand Prize and
bragging rights as the #1 NASCAR 08 video game player in the country.
The 2007 EA SPORTS Craftsman NASCAR Challenge encompassed in-store
and online tournaments across 11 U.S. cities, offering gamers and
NASCAR® fans from across the country the opportunity to compete
against some of the best. Last weekend the semi-finalists from the
online and in-store qualifying rounds were flown to Miami to compete
in a virtual head-to-head racing competition at the Homestead-Miami
Speedway on Sunday, November 18, and Brandon Coppinger emerged
victorious.
"I've been playing video games since the first Nintendo came out,
probably when I was about five years old, and the NASCAR Challenge has
given me the chance to compete against the best," said 2007 EA SPORTS
Craftsman NASCAR Challenge winner, Brandon Coppinger. "After all my
practice, I'm excited to be named number one and of course to be
bringing home 10,000 bucks! I can't wait to repeat my success again
next year."
Brandon Coppinger, a 21 year-old college student from
Goodlettsville, TN, combines his love of NASCAR with his love of video
games. Growing up, he went to countless NASCAR events and has
transferred that passion into video games. He loves the challenge of
playing NASCAR® 08 and competes against his friends on all the
tracks that the game offers. He plans to apply the $10,000 prize money
towards the purchase of a real-life Legends Car so that he can race at
the Nashville Fairgrounds. Coppinger, who hopes to become a
sportscaster one day, was especially thrilled that the 2007 EA SPORTS
Craftsman NASCAR Challenge was announced by ESPN host Brent Musberger.
The 2007 EA SPORTS Craftsman NASCAR Challenge Finals took place
during the Ford 400, the season-ending NASCAR® NEXTEL Cup Series
event in which Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart (the
NASCAR 08 cover athlete) and other celebrated NASCAR drivers raced at
the Homestead-Miami Speedway. On the same day that Jimmie Johnson was
awarded the 2007 NEXTEL Cup, Brandon Coppinger was named EA's #1
NASCAR 08 player in the country.
"This year was the debut of the new EA SPORTS NASCAR Challenge,
and we're thrilled it was such a huge success," said Brian Movalson,
EA SPORTS Marketing Director. "We were fortunate enough to host the
finals at Homestead-Miami Speedway in conjunction with the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup Series and it was even more exciting to see our sixteen
finalists share the NASCAR experience with the real race car drivers
they look up to."
"The virtual racing we saw at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a
dramatic show and a microcosm of what it takes to compete and win in
NASCAR--commitment, passion, practice, nerves of steel, and as Brandon
Coppinger demonstrated, patience and consistency on the race track,"
said Blake Davidson, Managing Director of Licensed Products at NASCAR.
"We want to congratulate EA SPORTS and Craftsman for pulling off an
exciting and competitive tournament, as well as all the competitors
who participated."
The EA SPORTS NASCAR Challenge is one of four Challenges from the
EA SPORTS Challenge Series that also included regional tournament
competitions for Madden NFL 08, NBA LIVE 08 and NCAA® Football 08,
and have been taking place across North America over the last four
months. For more information about the 2007 EA SPORTS Craftsman NASCAR
Challenge please visit: www.easportsracing.com/challenge or
www.craftsman.com/nascarchallenge.
About the EA SPORTS™ Challenge Series
The EA SPORTS Challenge Series was created to reflect the
competition of real-world athletes and provide official tournaments
for the very best players of EA SPORTS games to battle for bragging
rights and prizes. EA held its first gaming competition in 2001 with
the inaugural Madden Challenge, offering hardcore players of the
Madden NFL Football franchise, the chance to test their skills with
the best from around the country. The success and excitement of the
Madden Challenge generated a need for EA to open up the competition to
fans of different sports, including the NCAA Football Challenge, the
NBA LIVE Challenge, and the NASCAR Challenge.
About EA SPORTS™
EA SPORTS is the leading interactive sports software brand in the
world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL
Football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA®
Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® and NASCAR® racing.
EA SPORTS is the center of the interactive sports experience
through: Authenticity, Innovation, Competition, Lifestyle elements.
Its immersion in the sports world extends beyond games into a rich
sponsorship portfolio of activities and involvement: including the EA
SPORTS All-American program, the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational, NBA
Europe Live presented by EA SPORTS and more--that has helped establish
the company as a leading force in the world of today's athletes.
EA SPORTS videogames are developed and produced for videogame
systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. For
more information about EA SPORTS, including newsletters, podcasts, and
fantasy football action please visit www.easports.com.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City,
California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software
company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and
distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems,
personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic
Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™,
EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted
revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one
million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More
information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be
found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
About Craftsman
Craftsman, the Official Tools of NASCAR, has sponsored the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series since it began in 1995. According to a 2004
EquiTrend survey, Craftsman is rated the No. 1 brand in the nation for
overall quality. Craftsman tools, merchandise and related services are
sold nationwide through Sears Full-line stores, Sears Hardware stores,
Sears Dealer stores, Orchard Supply Hardware stores, Kmart stores, and
specialty catalogs and online at www.craftsman.com, www.sears.com and
www.kmart.com.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR),
which began in 1948, is the sanctioning body for one of America's
premier sports. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport - holding 17 of
the top 20 attended sporting events in the U.S., the No. 2-rated
regular season sport on television with broadcasts in more than 150
countries, and has 75 million fans that purchase more than $2.1
billion in annual licensed product sales. These fans are the most
brand loyal in all of sports and as a result, more Fortune 500
companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists
of three major national series (NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch
Series, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) as well as eight
regional tours and one local grassroots series. NASCAR sanctions 1,500
races at over 100 tracks in 35 states, Canada and Mexico. Based in
Daytona Beach, NASCAR has offices in Bentonville (Ark.), Charlotte,
Concord (N.C.), Conover (N.C.), Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City and
Toronto.
CONTACT: Electronic Arts
Tyrone Miller, 407-386-4905
tmiller@ea.com
or
Sparkpr for Electronic Arts
Lisa Chan, 415-321-1885
lisac@sparkpr.com
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.