Parable and the New England Patriots Launch Patriots Things as the 1998 Regular Season Nears; First-Ever Digital Collectibles from a Professional Sports Team

Business Wire, August 24, 1998

NEWTON, Mass. and FOXBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 1998--Digital trading cards have joined the parade of interactive branded multimedia Things from Parable (http://www.thingworld.com), a Newton, MA-based Internet multimedia company. Today, as the result of a relationship with the New England Patriots, Parable announced the kickoff of Patriots Things, the first Digital Collectibles(TM) ever created by a professional sports team.

Now Patriots fans can collect Drew Bledsoe online as he drops back to pass and watch him do his gridiron activity on their desktops.

Patriots Digital Collectibles are designed to mimic online the explosive real world hobby of collecting trading cards, hats, T-shirts and other sports memorabilia. The Patriots have integrated the collectibles into their online offerings in an effort to engage fans online and provide them with official interactive content that has been sanctioned by the NFL franchise.

"The Patriots are always seeking ways to use technology to interact with existing fans and expand our fan base," said Fred Kirsch, Director of Interactive Media for the New England Patriots. "By working with us to introduce Digital Collectibles as an online hobby, Parable has provided us with a mechanism to reach fans beyond the football stadium and television."

Patriots Things depict digital trading cards of Drew Bledsoe, Derrick Cullors, Terry Glenn, and Mike Jones, as wels Things and easily take them from patriots.comtionships with their favorite teams and players," stated Andrew Collins, Director of Content Partners. "Withstablish indirect links between them."

Paared, owned and protected on the Internet. Parable works with entertainment, sports and brand organizations t list of Parable content partners creating ThinBH.

Things can be found at various locatiole for the taking from the site. ThingWorld also offers distribution points at GeoCities, Lycos, theglobe.conet's most highly trafficked sites.

Technicalailable for leading Web browsers. Things are op of the leading teams in the National Football League (NFL), having been to the NFL playoffs in every season since 1994, reaching the Super Bowl in the 1996 season and recording their second consecutive division title the following year. The Patriots have been around since 1959, bringing football to New England as the eighth and final American Football League (AFL) franchise. Since then, the Patriots have always stood for innovation among football organizations. The Patriots named their team in a public contest in 1960, with the "Boston Patriots" as the winning entry. In the early years, association with the old AFL meant a wide open and exciting passing game that survives to this latest generation of Patriots superstars like Drew Bledsoe. In 1995, as the Patriots were producing three Pro Bowl players, including Bruce Armstrong and Ben Coates, off the field they became the only NFL team to publish a full-color team newspaper "Patriots Football Weekly" and launch their own Web site: www.patriots.com.

About Parable

Founded in August 1996, Parable (http://www.thingworld.com), an Internet multimedia company, provides technology and tools that deliver the power of Internet multimedia to everyone. Parable's unique technology allows consumers to experience, share and collect multimedia without programming or coding. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Parable is part of the CMG@Venture portfolio of companies, which also includes blaxxun, GeoCities, Hollywood Entertainment, KOZ, Lycos, Planet Direct, Silknet, Softway Systems, Universal Learning Technologies, Vicinity and other innovative enterprises.

ThingCollector, ThingScreenSaver, ThingViewer, ThingWorld and Digital Collectibles are registered trademarks of Parable. All other properties referenced herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

    CONTACT: Parable
              Kristen Gariepy, 617/796-0860
              kgariepy@parablecorp.com
              or
              New England Patriots
              Fred Kirsch, 617/223-PATS
              Fred@patriots.com