REPEAT/John Elway Launches MVP.com with Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky To Create the Premier Sports and Outdoor E-Commerce Destination

Business Wire, Jan 26, 2000

Sports, Entertainment &High Tech Writers

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ATLANTA--(BW SportsWire)--Jan. 26, 2000

World-Class Team Provides Insight on Gear and Performance

Announces $50MM Year One Marketing Launch

John Elway, 1999 Super Bowl MVP, today launched MVP.com, the premier online destination for high-quality sports, fitness, and outdoor gear and apparel. Elway, chairman of MVP.com, along with fellow Board of Directors members Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky, joined CEO John Costello in launching the site at a press conference today in Atlanta.

MVP.com helps individuals achieve their personal best in sports and outdoor activities by offering a comprehensive selection of high-quality merchandise and providing exclusive insight from the world's top athletes and experts.

&uot;We've met our goal of launching a world-class online retail destination for sports and outdoor enthusiasts in record time,&uot; said Elway, referring to the fact that the company was announced in late December. &uot;While we're off to a strong start, we're in this for the long haul. We're out to become the market leader by recruiting one customer at a time.&uot;

State-of-the-Art Shopping Experience

MVP.com launches with a carefully selected assortment of more than 25,000 high-quality items from a wide range of sports, with a full complement of premier brands. New items are continuously being added and MVP.com expects to offer 50,000 items by April 1, 2000.

&uot;Our goal is total customer satisfaction,&uot; said CEO John Costello. &uot;Sporting goods is a very information-intensive category. Our goal is to provide consumers with the insight of a specialty store backed up by the experience of world class athletes, with the breadth and depth of selection that only the Internet can provide.&uot; Costello added, &uot;MVP.com is establishing a unique position in retail by offering a powerful combination of selection and content, including the site's proprietary MVP Edge, which contains extensive information and tips from MVP.com's elite athlete Advisors. This exclusive feature provides MVP.com with a significant competitive advantage.&uot;

MVP Edge offers: Buyers Guides which describe key product features and benefits, Checklists that highlight required gear and apparel, and Shopping Assistants that analyze a consumer's input and then return personalized product recommendations. The MVP Edge section also offers a broad line of downloadable and streamable Instructional Videos from leading athletes and experts.

Referring also to Elway and Gretzky, Jordan said, &uot;We've all worked very hard to be recognized as MVPs, and now, through MVP Edge, we have an opportunity to help others achieve their personal best.&uot; Gretzky added, &uot;The MVP Edge section for hockey gives me a chance to give back to the sport by helping kids and their parents, who may have never played the game, get the right gear and have a positive experience.&uot;

The site also offers shopper-friendly features like quick navigation, a gift center, reward points, real time order status, 100% satisfaction guarantee, 24x7 real time customer service, rich product descriptions, dynamic product comparisons, and the ability to enlarge and rotate products.

$50MM Year One Marketing Launch

MVP.com also unveiled a new $50MM marketing plan for the year 2000, which includes both traditional and online marketing. The general market advertising campaign will include television, radio, and print. The online marketing effort includes a 10-year marketing agreement with SportsLine.com and a major presence with leading online shopping portals such as America Online, Excite and Microsoft Network.

John Elway, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan, three of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, appear together in a television commercial for the first time. The MVP.com television commercial with the athletes was unveiled today at the press conference in Atlanta. The commercial will air for the first time during the pre-game programming for the Super Bowl.

Business Launches with Built-in Momentum and Solid Backing

MVP.com launches its e-commerce business with tremendous momentum. In late December, MVP.com announced that it would negotiate and execute a four-year advertising alliance with CBS Corporation worth $85 million. In a related move, MVP.com announced that it would negotiate to issue stock to acquire and operate the online retail business of SportsLine.com (NASDAQ: SPLN), the publisher of CBS SportsLine (www.sportsline.com). Both agreements are pending corporate and regulatory approvals.

Chicago-based MVP.com was founded in October 1999 and has received financial backing from Benchmark Capital and Freeman Spogli. MVP.com also has also established an exclusive merchandising and fulfillment partnership with Galyan's, one of the most highly-regarded sports and outdoors retailers in the country.

Photos of Elway, Jordan, Gretzky, and Costello will be available on Businesswire.com at 1 p.m. EST and at MVP.com's web site under news releases.