Field Nearly Set for Million-Pizza Bracket Challenge from Papa John's; Nearly 100,000 basketball fans have already registered for the Papa John's Perfect Bracket Challenge at SportingNews.com
As the official sponsor of SportingNews.com's bracket page, Papa John's is offering 1,000,000 large Papa's Perfect Pan pepperoni pizzas for a "perfect bracket," a prize that will be divvied up evenly among all eligible fans who enter their bracket picks at the SportingNews.com.
Lined up box-to-box, 1,000,000 pizzas would stretch 221 miles, the distance of more than eight marathons or the length of 12,000 basketball courts. Put in even greater perspective, a million pizzas would cover a territory from Chicago to Indianapolis, or San Diego to Los Angeles. And back.
Stacked, 1,000,000 pizzas would tower 166,666 feet above the earth. That's the height of more than 133 Empire State Buildings or 365 times higher than the tallest roller coaster in the U.S. The idea of consuming 1,000,000 pizzas is even more imposing. If it takes the average family of four one-half hour to devour a large pizza, it would take them more than 57 years of constant eating to finish a million. We're talking about a lot of pies here.
"The idea of hundreds of thousands of fans sharing 1,000,000 pizzas from Papa John's is a pretty staggering proposition for us to grasp," commented Bill Van Epps, Papa's John's chief operations officer. "Yet, the more people who register, the more likely that someone will achieve a perfect bracket, so everyone can win a share of 1,000,000 Papa's Perfect Pan pizzas. Our intention is to get as many people as possible signed up through SportingNews.com before the action begins on Thursday."
Registration for Papa John's Perfect Bracket Challenge is free and will be open until five minutes before tip-off of the first game on Thursday, March 16. Complete rules are available at SportingNews.com.
Even if the perfect bracket is not achieved, the entrant with the highest points total will receive a year of free pizza and a lifetime subscription to Sporting News magazine. And just for registering, all entrants will receive a redemption code from Papa John's good for a FREE large one topping pizza with the purchase of an extra large specialty pizza at regular menu price at www.papajohns.com.
Once registered at papajohns.com, fans can begin experiencing all the conveniences of ordering pizza online. Fans can log on to www.papajohns.com and follow the online ordering menu to place their order in advance of tourney games. Place an order - including all the pizzas, wings, breadsticks, sodas and other sides the party needs - and indicate a time of delivery. It's that simple.
The popular fan favorite is certainly Papa's Perfect Pan. Featuring a thick buttery-tasting crust made with olive oil, and a new zesty robusto pizza sauce with chunks of tomato and flavored with garlic, Italian herbs and spices, Papa's Perfect Pan is square and deep so customers can pile on loads of their favorite "better ingredients" from Papa John's.
By the Numbers - Pizza and Papa John's
- The average American eats 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza per year.
- Overall, Americans consume 100 acres of pizza EACH DAY.
- 93 percent of Americans eat AT LEAST one pizza per month.
- Pepperoni is the favorite topping on pizza orders.
- Americans eat approximately 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni a year.
- Pizza is America's fourth most craved food, behind cheese, chocolate and ice cream. About Papa John's
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John's is the world's third largest pizza company. For six years running, consumers have rated Papa John's No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national QSR chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John's at www.papajohns.com.
About Sporting News
Sporting News is a multi-media sports company with a weekly magazine, radio network (Sporting News Radio), radio stations (New York-WSNR, Boston-WWZN, Los Angeles-KMPC), and Web site (SportingNews.com). The company's magazine and Web site lead their fields for audience engagement, and the books division is the country's leading sports specialty book publisher. Sporting News information and entertainment is available on mobile devices and iTV applications. Sporting News was selected as one of the nation's top 10 magazines by Adweek for both 2004 and 2005, and is the nation's original sports publication, having debuted in 1886, earning the credibility inherent in its slogan "The Experts' Choice."
CONTACT: Papa John's International Inc., Louisville
Chris Sternberg, 502-261-4934
or
Fleishman-Hillard
Doug Terfehr, 314-982-9134
terfehrd@fleishman.com
SOURCE: Papa John's International Inc.