Charity Golf Competition to Feature All-Stars from Major Sports

Sixteen legendary all-stars - four each from football, baseball, basketball and hockey - will collide in a two-day Pro Sports Team Challenge at Eagle Falls Golf Course at Fantasy Springs Resort in Palm Springs, Calif., on June 7 and 8, 2008. Tournament commissioner and NBA Hall-of-Fame member Charles Barkley is bringing together four superstars from each sport and pitting them against one another in a struggle for both bragging rights and the top charity prize of $100,000.

"Athletes from each sport think that they are the best golfers. It's high time we found out who really is: baseball, football, basketball or hockey," said Team Challenge spokesman, Mike Paul.

The superstars already committed to participate include (*team captains; Barkley will also serve as the non-playing captain of the Team Challenge basketball team):

Baseball

Ozzie Smith*
George Brett
Vince Coleman TBA

Basketball

Charles Barkley*
Jason Kidd
Julius Irving, "Dr. J."
TBA
TBA

Football

Drew Brees*
LaDanian Tomlinson
John Elway
Michael Strahan

Hockey

Mario Lemieux*
Brett Hull
Grant Fuhr
Pierre Larouche

"The playful smack talk regarding which sport and athlete are the best started months ago," said Tom Belton, founder and managing partner of Team Challenge, LLC. "These sports legends look forward to the challenge and to raising significant money for charity. Nothing makes them happier than playing sports to raise money to help others in need. Moreover, this competition might also depend on who has the most loyal and knowledgeable fans."

Belton is right. In an inspired twist using a new technology known as Strat.e.golf TM, fans can directly participate in coaching decisions for their favorite team by logging on to the Internet or using their cell phone text messaging to vote on coaching strategies for a team of their choice. "It's sort of like American Idol," Mike Paul explained.

The fan vote will determine which player in each of the four rounds of competition will play for double points. Fans, called "ProCoaches™" in the Team Challenge vernacular, can log on to www.teamchallenge.com, or text on their cell phones to sign up to coach their favorite Team Challenge team, vote on coaching decisions, and engage in social networking with other ProCoaches™ on their Team Challenge team website and through text messaging.

"This is a tremendous chance for fans to not only support their favorite athletes in the competition, but to have a direct impact on the outcome. The earlier they sign up, the more influence they can have in coaching decisions, so man up everybody!" continued Paul.

"Fantasy Sports just became Reality Sports," said Tom Belton. "The Team Challenge will, for the first time ever, provide fans with the opportunity to make real strategy decisions in a high profile sports competition. Blogs and chat rooms will allow fans to strategize together to make their choices. Strat.e.golf TM brings the fan inside the locker room as a true coach."

"It's as though half of the action will be on the golf course and the other half of the action will be online or from mobile devices," echoed Mike Paul. The total purse for the event, already $250,000, will increase by $1 for each fan that registers as a paid ProCoachTM for the winning team. "The more people that sign up and participate, the more money we can raise for worthy charities, so sign up and play," he finished.

Team Challenge will release more information soon about the other sports legends participating, the charities, our television broadcasting partner, super sweepstakes, the Pro-Am in Palm Springs on June 6, more online and mobile participation info, future events and more.

About Team Challenge, LLC

Team Challenge, LLC was founded in 2008 to develop and implement turnkey event planning, marketing, software and technology solutions for all types of team competitions with a mission to enhance the online experience of sports ad entertainment fans. Team competitions highlight friendly rivalries among celebrities, colleges, corporations, countries, nonprofit organizations and global affinity groups of all kinds. For more information, visit www.teamchallenge.com.