Upper Deck Featured in ESPN’s New Hit Show E:60

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ESPN’s Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, Got a One of a Kind Tour of the Industry Leader in Sports Collectibles

Carlsbad, CA – (November 6, 2007) – ESPN recently launched their new hard-hitting 60 minute show to positive reviews from sports fans. One of their most popular writers Bill Simmons, who is known as the Sports Guy, provides a fun and comical look at sports on the show. After first going behind the scenes at a software company that produces sports video games, the Sports Guy’s next mission was to infiltrate Upper Deck and find out what’s new from the sports collectibles giant.

ESPN spent the day filming at Upper Deck’s corporate headquarters with Simmons on October 17th and the segment aired for the first time this evening on their flagship network. It will be airing again throughout the week on ESPN and ESPN 2. Additionally, the segment will be featured on-line at ESPN.com and can be viewed through this link: ESPN Video Beta.



Simmons received a tour seldom given to members of the media and he was blown away by how revolutionary trading cards have become. When asked what his favorite parts of the tour were, Simmons said that he enjoyed time in the game-used equipment room where he viewed Upper Deck’s vast collection of unique sports memorabilia. Simmons also was thrilled to get to open a pack of Upper Deck’s most expensive line of cards called Exquisite, which retails for over $600 a pack.



Simmons had the opportunity to pick out photos for upcoming trading card sets, take a shot at writing some copy for the back of trading cards and even watch as his image was morphed into trading cards over his favorite Celtic players. Simmons does enjoy card collecting and he shared with Upper Deck that his biggest quest this year will be collecting all the Kevin Durant rookie cards he can. Durant is the highly touted rookie for the Seattle Supersonics and exclusive spokesmen for Upper Deck along with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James among others.



“As a company we have done a lot to bring kids back to the hobby,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s Hobby Marketing Manager. “Our other focus in terms of growing our business is to try to market to the sports fan and show them how much more exciting trading cards are today then when they may have collected in the 80’s. Our use of incorporating game-used memorabilia and autographs in trading cards really brings our customers closer to the game while allowing them to invest in their passion. Bill got to see this first hand and hopefully through this segment; other sports fans will see it as well.”



Upper Deck is planning on doing more with Simmons in the future. Simmons also gave a video review of the new Upper Deck Black product that can be viewed on Upper Deck Sports: 2007 UD Black.



About Upper Deck

Founded in 2003, Upper Deck is a premier sports and entertainment publishing company which delivers a portfolio of relevant, innovative and multi-dimensional product experiences to collectors, sports and entertainment enthusiasts. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit The Upper Deck Company: Sports Trading Cards, Authentic Memorabilia, Sports Collectibles, & Entertainment Products.



About Bill Simmons


Bill Simmons is a columnist for ESPN.com’s Page 2 and ESPN The Magazine. He is the author of the New York Times Best Seller “Now I Can Die in Peace” which chronicled the 2004 Boston Red Sox Championship run. For more information on Bill Simmons please visit ESPN - Bill Simmons - The Sports Guy - Page 2.