Responsibility Has Its Rewards at NBA All-Star 2017

02/19/2017

A sold out crowd at the 66th NBA All-Star Game on February 19, 2017 witnessed the incredible skills of the league’s best players. For John Monroig, the Houston Rockets Designated Driver for the Season, his tickets to the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA were the result of being the first prize winner of the “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes for designated drivers. Monroig, a resident of Houston, was named “Designated Driver for the Season” for the Rockets for the 2015-2016 season. All 30 NBA teams selected a Designated Driver for the Season. Mr. Monroig was the lucky one randomly selected to represent the more than 71,000 responsible NBA fans who pledged to be designated drivers last season.

Throughout the three days of All-Star festivities at Smoothie King Center, 539 NBA fans pledged to never drive drunk and always have a designated driver. Three (3) fans were randomly selected as the Designated Drivers of All-Star weekend. Each of these fans received an NBA All-Star basketball.

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The “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes grand prize winners from the 2015-2016 NBA season were Elyssa Eldridge and Sandra Still. Eldridge was named “Designated Driver for the Season” for the Golden State Warriors and Still was selected to represent the Cleveland Cavaliers. Eldridge attended game one of The Finals 2016 and Still attended game 3. Designated drivers pledge to refrain from drinking alcohol at the game and provide their friends and family with a safe ride home.

The top five NBA teams for designated drivers at the end of the 2015-2016 season were:

  • Dallas Mavericks with 8,916 designated drivers
  • Charlotte Hornets with 8,386 designated drivers
  • Oklahoma City Thunder with 8,221 designated drivers
  • Houston Rockets with 6,702 designated drivers
  • Sacramento Kings with 5,415 designated drivers
Anheuser-Busch has led our industry in promoting responsible drinking for more than 35 years, and the Bud Light Good Sport program reminds fans who choose to drink to do so responsibly and get their friends home safely. We all share the same streets after the game. This partnership with the National Basketball League, TEAM and the fans displays our collective responsibility to help keep our roads safe.Katja Zastrow, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility-Better World, Anheuser-Busch
The success of the Responsibility Has Its Rewards campaign with the NBA is a direct result of the commitment from the league, the teams and all the campaign partners. Teamwork is what this campaign is all about. We are demonstrating that when everyone – including the fans – takes responsibility, everyone wins.Jill Pepper, Executive Director, TEAM Coalition
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch and its employees build on a legacy of corporate social responsibility by focusing on three key areas: promoting alcohol responsibility, preserving and protecting the environment and supporting local communities. In the past three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have invested more than $1 billion in preventing drunk driving and underage drinking and promoting responsible retailing and advertising. Anheuser-Busch reduced total water use at its breweries by nearly 50 percent over the last 10 years. The company has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years. Each year Anheuser-Busch and its Foundation invest approximately $20 million in donations to charitable organizations that help in local communities. The company also has provided over 76 million cans of emergency drinking water to people impacted by natural and other disasters since 1988. Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com
TEAM Coalition
TEAM Coalition is an alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaires, stadium service providers, the beer industry, distillers, broadcasters, traffic safety experts and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. TEAM Coalition members and supporters include National Basketball Association, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, National Football League, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Americrown, Aramark, Delaware North Sportservice, Legends, Spectra, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Constellation Brands, HEINEKEN USA, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, Contemporary Services Corporation, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For more information visit www.TEAMCoalition.org or www.FansDontLetFansDriveDrunk.org.

(L to R): Johnathan Campbell, Anheuser-Busch; Mathieuv Monroig, guest of winner; John Monroig, Responsibility Has Its Rewards Sweepstakes Winner; Jackson Magnini, TEAM Coalition; Abeer Klosk, National Basketball League

US DOT / NHTSA 2015 NATIONAL DATA:

• 10,265 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, an increase of 3.2% from the 9,943 fatalities in 2014.

• Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.

• Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash, drive when impaired by alcohol, and fail to buckle up.