ESPN Sports Passport Powered By Orbitz Helps Fans Organize and Share Sports Travel Memories and Milestones BRISTOL, Conn. and CHICAGO, Aug. 14
BRISTOL, Conn. and CHICAGO, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ESPN.com and
Orbitz.com, a leading online travel agency, today launched ESPN Sports
Passport powered by Orbitz -- an online community tool that gives sports fans
a place to catalog and share their sports travel trips, game memories and
milestones. This new online resource is the latest addition to ESPN Sports
Travel Powered by Orbitz.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070813/AQM125LOGO)
"ESPN Sports Travel has been a fantastic, collaborative success that has
served sports fans and travelers extremely well for two years," said Marc
Horine, vice president, digital partnerships, ESPN Digital Media. "With this
new effort, we're going to extend the collaboration beyond just ESPN and
Orbitz -- to our passionate users, by harnessing the power of new Web
technologies and using them to tap into the inherently social aspects of both
sports and travel."
"Orbitz has always been ahead of the curve in offering new innovations to
enhance the travel experience," said Aaron Cooper, Group Vice President of
Online Marketing for Orbitz Worldwide. "Through our continued partnership with
ESPN.com, fans can not only book a trip to see their favorite team, they can
share and compare their experience and memories with fans around the world."
With ESPN Sports Passport fans are able to create and share an online
catalog of their sports history, travel experiences and memories via blogs,
photo and video sharing, stadium "collections" and more. The Sports Travel
Passport integrates seamlessly with ESPN's robust SportsNation online
community and utilizes the same registration and ESPN Fan Profiles used by
fans.
The features and tools of ESPN Sports Travel Passport powered by Orbitz
aim to help fans:
-- Preserve Memories. Fans can catalog their first game or track how many
games they have seen your home team win. Fans can now keep track of every
professional or collegiate event they have ever attended, describe their
memories of the game, upload photos and even link directly to the boxscore
from the game.
-- Compete & Rate. Fans can see how their status as a fan stacks up
against your friends or other ESPN users. ESPN's Sports Travel Passport
powered by Orbitz will tell fans their rank for both events attended and
stadiums visited.
-- Collect. Not every fan competes -- but some take in a game at every
venue in a particular sport. Passport has a place for these sports travel
explorers. It can help track total venues for each sport, defunct venues and
venues that a fan has yet to visit.
ESPN and Orbitz have collaborated on ESPN Sports Travel since 2006,
providing fans with tools and content aimed at creating utility by combining
two subjects people are passionate about: sports and travel. The section
provides city profiles for more than 75 North American, Latin American and
European sports destinations, city-specific sports calendars, stadium profiles
and information, sports travel feature stories, trip ideas, travel planning
information and easy access to Orbitz's tools to book hotels, vacation
packages, flights and destination services.
Check out Sports Travel Passport: http://www.espn.com/passport
And the ESPN Sports Travel: http://www.espn.com/travel
About Orbitz
Orbitz (http://www.orbitz.com) is a leading online travel company that
enables travelers to search for and purchase a broad array of travel products,
including airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and vacation
packages. Since launching its website http://www.orbitz.com to the general
public in June 2001, Orbitz has become one of the largest online travel sites
in the world based on gross travel bookings. On Orbitz, consumers can search
more than 80,000 suppliers worldwide including airlines, hotels and car rental
companies. Orbitz is a brand that is owned and operated by Orbitz Worldwide
(NYSE: OWW).
About Orbitz Worldwide
Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) is a leading global online travel company
that uses innovative technology to enable leisure and business travelers to
research, plan and book a broad range of travel products. Orbitz Worldwide
owns and operates a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Orbitz
(http://www.orbitz.com/), CheapTickets (http://www.cheaptickets.com/),
ebookers (http://www.ebookers.com/), HotelClub (http://www.hotelclub.com/),
RatesToGo (http://www.ratestogo.com/), the Away Network (http://www.away.com/)
and corporate travel brand Orbitz for Business
(http://www.orbitzforbusiness.com/). For more information on how your company
can partner with Orbitz Worldwide, visit http://corp.orbitz.com/.
About ESPN
ESPN, Inc. is the world's leading multinational, multimedia sports
entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports
assets. The company is comprised of six domestic television networks
(ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU), ESPN, ESPN2
and ESPNEWS HD simulcast services, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN
International (34 networks, syndication, radio, web sites), ESPN Radio,
ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Enterprises, ESPN PPV, ESPN Zones
(sports-themed restaurants), and other growing new businesses including
ESPN360.com (Broadband), ESPN Mobile Properties, ESPN on Demand and ESPN
Interactive. Based in Bristol, Ct., ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC,
Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The
Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
SOURCE Orbitz Worldwide
