FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michael Lewellen, 212/556-2412

April 14, 1999 Dennis Johnson, 310/369-9089

Renee Hawkins, 310/369-9468

FOX SPORTS NET TO CROWN NATIONAL HS FOOTBALL KING

Weekly Rankings Will Lead to National Championship Game in ‘2000

High school football has finally joined the ranks of its collegiate and professional counterparts with its first-ever national championship game. FOX Sports Net will nationally televise the title game in December, 2000 across its 22 regional cable networks.

As a prelude to the national championship, FSN and Student Sports, Inc. have also established the FOX SPORTS NET FAB 50, a weekly national ranking of the nation’s top 50 high school football teams. The poll will launch with the 1999 football season, and be promoted weekly across FSN’s regional and national programming, including the network’s flagship news show, FOX SPORTS NEWS PRIME TIME. FSN will also work with regional and state organizations to determine weekly state rankings to feed its national poll.

"We already have tremendous success regionally as a premier carrier of interscholastic sports at the high school level. To create a concept we could take nationally was the logical next step," said Arthur Smith, Executive Vice President of Programming and Production for FOX Sports Net. "This concept will ignite the passion for high school football already felt within state lines and spread it coast-to-coast. There’s always been talk about who’s the best high school football team in America. We’ve created a means to settle that argument every year."

The top two teams in the FOX SPORTS NET FAB 50 poll at the end of each season will meet in the national title game. Though no site for that championship game has been chosen yet, Smith said, "it will be a major venue worthy of hosting what will be the biggest event in high school sports."

Student Sports, Inc. has been working with FOX Sports Net for nearly a year to develop a blue print for determining America’s high school football champion. Many of the country’s perennial high school football powerhouses have already agreed to support the concept – including Evangel Christian of Shreveport, Louisiana; and Summerville, South Carolina, coached by John McKissick, whose 459 career wins make him the nation’s all-time winningest coach. Andy Bark, President of Student Sports, Inc., said that the platform of a national championship would benefit high school athletics across the board.

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FSN Unveils National HS Football Championship

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"I firmly believe the FOX FAB 50 and the National Championship will bring a much needed spark to the promotional and educational opportunities that high school football features in every American hometown community," said Bark.

"With all of their regional development of high school programming, I wasn’t surprised to hear it was FOX that devised a system to determine a national champion ‘on the field’," said Mike Smith, coach of Hampton, Virginia, which finished the 1996 and 1997 seasons ranked Number 1 by the National Prep Poll and Student Sports Magazine. "This is exactly the kind of shot in the arm that high school football needed. We (Hampton) have now set higher goals for the year 2000, and are thrilled to be joining other teams across the country in support of this concept."

Just like the NFL’s Super Bowl and college football’s series of holiday bowl games, FSN’s National High School Football Championship carries multiple levels of sponsorship opportunities, including a slot for a national presenting sponsor, according to Randy Freer, Executive Vice President for Advertising Sales at FOX Sports Net.

"An event of this magnitude could appeal to a range of companies and brands seeking younger consumers," said Freer. "We envision athletic footwear, sports apparel, soft drink and technology companies as ideal sponsorship partners, with benefits ranging from on-air media advertising inventory to venue signage and product sampling at the event. This will be an exciting means for extending our own FOX Sports Net brand, and linking major national companies to what will no doubt raise the profile of high school athletics."

For the past 15 years, Student Sports, Inc. has been America’s grassroots sports marketing leader. The backbone of the company is its monthly national high school sports publication, Student Sports Magazine. Special events planning, television production and custom marketing programs are also among the company’s featured services.

FOX Sports Net is the first truly national, regional and local supplier of sports programming, and reaches more than 65 million homes through 22 regional sports networks. For more news and information regarding FOX Sports programming and talent, visit the newly redesigned FOX Sports web site at www.foxsports.com.

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