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Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest Launches Fifth Anniversary Minor League Tour Following Successful Major League Spring Training Swing
Palm Beach Gardens, FL (PRWEB) April 25, 2008
Entertainment and Sports International’s Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest will begin its minor league itinerary in Alabama at the Birmingham Barons on April 25 after completing a three week, seven city tour of MLB Spring Training games at a record breaking Detroit Tigers on Easter Sunday that saw the cats draw the largest crowd in their Spring Training history.
Nearly 50,000 fans visited the event at teams including the Florida Marlins, St Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and Tigers. Fans had an opportunity to participate in the free event for the first time at MLB Spring Training as part of the tour’s fifth anniversary. “We spent four years in the minors”, said tour co-creator Joe Owens, “and we felt it was about time we made it to the Bigs”.
The free event sets up outside of the ball park three hours before game time and features more than twenty baseball themed attractions including batting and pitching cages, bungee runs, bounce houses, the Xbox 360 / Best Buy video game arcade trailer and a minor league baseball museum featuring memorabilia from baseball’s greats in their minor league days. Fans can also get free personalized souvenirs at the Sports Illustrated Kids Magazine Cover and Days Inn Baseball Card photo attractions.
Tour spokesperson and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan calls the Principal Family Fun Fest, “an event truly unique to minor league ballparks”. Nolan Is joined in 2008 by another Hall of Famer, Reggie Jackson. Both invite fans to support Pitch in for Baseball, an international charity that collects new and used baseball and softball equipment and distributes it to underserved communities around the world. The Principal Family Fun Fest collects equipment at each tour stop and provides donors with exclusive team ticket offers and coupons good for $ 10 off Xbox 360 software at Best Buy locations.
The newest date added to the 45 city minor league tour is the first ever United League/Golden League All-Star Game hosted by the San Angelo Colts on July 15 in San Angelo Texas. A complete itinerary is listed below.
The Principal Financial Group continues as title sponsor for this unique and exciting fan celebration. The Principal has been the title sponsor since the tour debuted in 2004. Other sponsors include Days Inn, Sports Illustrated Kids, Best Buy, Xbox 360, Atec equipment and Fox Broadcasting.
4/25 Birmingham Barons (Alabama) (AA)
4/27 Huntsville Stars (Alabama) (AA)
5/2 Charleston RiverDogs (South Carolina) (A)
5/4 Augusta GreenJackets (Georgia) (A)
5/6 Asheville Tourists (North Carolina) (A)
5/9 Winston-Salem Warthogs (North Carolina) (A+)
5/11 Charlotte Knights (North Carolina) (AAA)
5/14 Salem Avalanche (Virginia) (A+)
5/16 Frederick Keys (Maryland) (A+)
5/18 Harrisburg Senators (Pennsylvania) (AA)
5/20 Wilmington Blue Rocks (Delaware) (A+)
5/24 Portland Sea Dogs (Maine) (AA)
5/26 Pawtucket Red Sox (Rhode Island) (AAA)
5/27 New Britain Rock Cats (Connecticut) (AA)
5/30 Syracuse Chiefs (New York) (AAA)
6/1 Rochester Red Wings (New York) (AAA)
6/4 South Bend Silver Hawks (Indiana) (A)
6/6 Cedar Rapids Kernels (Iowa) (A)
6/8 Peoria Chiefs (Illinois) (A)
6/12 Schaumburg Flyers (Illinois) (Ind)
6/14 Rockford Riverhawks (Illinois) (Ind)
6/18 Lincoln Saltdogs (Nebraska) (Ind)
6/20 Iowa Cubs (Des Moines) (AAA)
6/22 Kansas City T-Bones (Missouri) (Ind)
6/25 St. Paul Saints (Minnesota) (Ind)
6/28 Omaha Royals (Nebraska) (AAA)
7/1 Springfield Cardinals (Missouri) (AA)
7/3, 4 Tulsa Drillers (Oklahoma) (AA)
7/6 Oklahoma City RedHawks (Oklahoma) (AAA)
7/10 Arkansas Travelers (North Little Rock) (AA)
7/13 Round Rock Express (Texas) (AAA)
7/15 United/Golden Leagues All-Star Game, San Angelo Colts (Texas) (Ind)
7/18 Fort Worth Cats (Texas) (Ind)
7/21 Corpus Christi Hooks (Texas) (AA)
7/25 Tucson Sidewinders (Arizona) (AAA)
7/29 Modesto Nuts (California) (A+)
7/30 Sacramento RiverCats (California) (AAA)
8/5 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (California) (A+)
8/8 Las Vegas 51s (Nevada) (AAA)
8/11 Salt Lake Bees (Utah) (AAA)
8/16 River City Rascals (Missouri) (Ind)
8/19 Evansville Otters (Indiana) (Ind)
8/23 Fort Wayne Wizards (Indiana) (A)
8/27 Akron Aeros (Ohio) (AA)
8/29 Lakewood BlueClaws (New Jersey) (A)
About Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial GroupÒ (The Principal ®) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $ 215.0 billion in assets under management and serves some 16.4 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit http://www.principal.com.
About Entertainment & Sports International
Entertainment & Sports International (ESI) is a partnership of two experienced sports and entertainment executives who have worked with some of the best-known entertainment brands of the past two decades. From offices in New York and West Palm Beach, Fla., the company creates and produces distinctive and proprietary sports and entertainment properties and events. For more information, visit http://www.esiworld.com.
“The Principal Financial Group” and “The Principal” are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
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