Beavers Win Best Game Promotion Award For 2007

Published on December 12, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Portland Beavers News Release


PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland Beavers have received Best Game Promotion honors for 2007, as announced by leading industry website Gameops.com recently in its annual Best of Awards for the past year.

Recognized for conceptualizing and executing one of the most creative and effective promotional events of the year, the Beavers' popular Bob L. Head night was singled out among hundreds of major league and minor league special events across all sports and levels as the top game promotion of the year.

"Our staff and everyone involved with the Bob L. Head promotion definitely had a lot of fun with the event, and it's an honor to be singled out among the best in major league and minor league sports," said Merritt Paulson, president and general manager of the Beavers.

In February, the Beavers launched a national search for people named Bob L. Head to be the star of a unique bobblehead promotion at PGE Park in Portland. The list of contestants was narrowed to three finalists, and upwards of 30,000 votes were cast by fans from around the world at www.portlandbeavers.com to determine the winner of the distinct honor, which was Bob Leroy Head of Maquoketa, Iowa.

The Beavers distributed 2,000 collectible bobbles in the likeness of Bob Leroy Head at a game at PGE Park on Aug. 18, with the one-of-a-kind promotion drawing considerable national and local interest in the months leading up to the event. All three contest finalists were in attendance at the Aug. 18 game, while Bob Leroy Head received the lion's share of the attention, conducting a special press conference, signing autographs for fans and receiving a welcoming ovation from the 8,651 in attendance prior to throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

A panel of select industry experts judged the Best Game Promotion on creativity, entertainment value, media exposure, drawing power and overall execution of the event.

A total of five Best of Awards were decided from nominations across all sports. With hundreds of game promotions considered, the Beavers shared their award with the Pensacola Pelicans baseball club of the independent American Association.

The NBA's New Orleans Hornets were honored for Best Team Operations, Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals won the category of Best Contest/On-Field Promotion, the Pacific Coast League's Fresno Grizzlies were awarded Best Mascot in recognition of their team icon, Parker, and Red Panda Acrobat, a one-woman show featuring a woman flipping bowls onto her head while riding a unicycle, was deemed Best Act in the seventh-annual rankings by Gameops.com.

The Beavers previously received an honorable mention in the Best Game Promotion category in 2002.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from December 12, 2007


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