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PRESS ROOM Press Release/ Announcements About Sports Media Challenge Contact Information: Kathleen Hessert, CSP President E-mail: khessert@preptowin.com Tel: 704.365.5027 MAILING ADDRESS: Sports Media Challenge 2700 Coltsgate Road Suite 203 Charlotte, NC 28211

Press Release Feb 19, 2001 Hessert Contrasts Images of XFL & NBA The start of the XFL and the move to more "extreme sports" has some people wondering what the ramifications of this culture change is going to have on the already established leagues. There is an ongoing demand for professional athletes to clean up their act both on and off the playing field, but at the same time the ratings for WWF and WCW have skyrocketed. What gives? Kathleen Hessert was asked this exact question by WOAI radio in San Antonio. They were interested in knowing whether or not the NBA really needed cleaning up in light of the XFL bringing more "extreme" sports popular. According to Hessert, "you can go to lunch at Harper's or the Men's Club which has a much broader menu. Both are in business because there's a clientele for each." Hessert went on to say that "the NBA needs to determine who their audience is. The NBA (and the other leagues) needs to be sensitive to diversity represented by today's emerging young stars, but they have to be true to their corporate and Middle America roots as well. If the NBA decides they're going to be younger and edgier, then they need to appeal more to that market. But if they're going to rely on corporate America to pay the bills, then they need to clean it up." Hessert also feels that the American public is becoming more and more accepting of athletes living a double life-one on the court and one off the court. Yet, this acceptance can only go so far. As always, there's a line that can be crossed and that line really has to be defined for each individual sport. Right now, the NBA is making a business out of both, but riding the fence is obviously giving a lot of people heartburn. The ratings and attendance records are dropping, and the league administrators are pushing for changes. Hessert recommends that these proposed changes stay within the bounds of the league's image. "Think of your image as a spectrum. You can move from one end to the other on that spectrum, but if you go off of the spectrum, then you're being phony. They need to determine their spectrum and stay on it." Go here for more information about Image CONTACT: Sports Media Challenge | Rocky Welsing, Director of Sales and Marketing, 704/365-5027, rwelsing@preptowin.com | http://www.sportsmediachallenge.com #