Notre Dame, Chase Enhance Fightin' Irish Fan Experience; ND Becomes One of the First Universities to Accept Contactless Credit Card Payments with blink

Business Wire, Oct 9, 2007

Fighting Irish Fans Spend Less Time in Concession Stand Lines During Football, Hockey, Basketball Games; Earn Points for All Card Purchases

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), and the University of Notre Dame today announced the acceptance of blink at Notre Dame Stadium and the Joyce Center. Cardmembers will be able to use their Notre Dame Visa([R]) Card with blink at more than 60 concession stands throughout the campus, allowing them to get back to the excitement of the game and spend less time in line.

Notre Dame blink Visa card

Chase cards with blink redefine the payment experience for cardmembers by providing increased speed and convenience and reducing transaction time by as much as 40 percent. To use Chase cards with blink, cardmembers simply hold their card near a point-of-sale terminal at checkout, instead of swiping their card or handing it to a concessions' employee. As cardmembers place their Chase card with blink in front of the point-of-sale terminal, the terminal will quickly emit a signal to acknowledge payment confirmation.

"Notre Dame will be one of the first universities to enable their sports complexes to accept Chase cards with blink," said James Rosseau, senior vice president, Chase Card Services. "Bringing this innovation to Fightin' Irish fans will make long concession lines a thing of the past, and get fans back to their seats to cheer the Irish on to victory."

"Notre Dame is very excited about providing this state of the art payment technology option to our guests at Notre Dame Stadium," said David Prentkowski, director of food services, University of Notre Dame. "We anticipate that this feature will contribute to an improved overall game day experience, as less time will be spent standing in line for refreshments," continued Prentkowski. "We appreciate our partnership with Chase Card Services, who provided the leadership and support to make this happen."

Since 1995, Chase and Notre Dame have partnered to provide alumni and fans a credit card that gives back to the University in support of academic scholarships with each card purchase. In addition, Notre Dame cardmembers can add Chase's proprietary rewards product to their cards, which helps them earn one point for every dollar spent on all card purchases. Cardmembers can redeem points for travel, cash, gift cards and merchandise options. Redemption begins at 1,000 points.

"Once again Notre Dame and Chase stand out for bringing the convenience and speed of Visa PayWave(*) to the alumni and students of Notre Dame," said Brian Triplett, senior vice president for Emerging Product Development, Visa USA. "Notre Dame fans are able to use their Chase Visa cards with blink for all their every day purchases, not just at the Notre Dame Stadium and on campus, but at thousands of merchant locations nationwide that accept Visa PayWave."

In addition, Chase is the exclusive financial services sponsor of Team Notre Dame - a collaborative effort between Notre Dame athletics and Notre Dame Sports Properties. Under this agreement, Chase has integrated marketing and promotional activities such as television and print advertising and other special events. The sponsorship guarantees national visibility through Notre Dame athletics including advertising on NBC Sports telecasts of Irish home football games as well as a variety of other Notre Dame electronic and print media.

"Chase is proud to partner with the University of Notre Dame and become the exclusive financial services sponsor of Team Notre Dame," added Rosseau. "Deepening our relationship with Notre Dame will help enhance the products that we provide together to alumni and fans."

Consumers can apply for the Notre Dame Rewards Visa Card with blink at designated locations within Notre Dame Stadium and the Joyce Center, by calling 866-UND-VISA or by visiting chaseblink.com. Existing customers who would like to add rewards to their Notre Dame Visa Card can call the number on the back of their card.

* PayWave is Visa's contactless payment technology.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $1.5 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries. The company has more than 154 million credit cards issued. Under the Chase and JPMorgan brands, the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients. Information about the firm is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

About Notre Dame

Founded in 1842, Notre Dame is the leading Catholic university in the nation and ranked among the top 20 overall. It is located adjacent to South Bend, Ind., and enrolls approximately 8,300 undergraduates and 3,100 graduate and professional school students.