The National Football League, along with numerous top name brands, will hold an interactive festival in Boston this month to promote its 2004 NFL Opening Kickoff.
The NFL Kickoff Football Festival, to be held Sept. 4-6, aims to bring the thrill of the game to fans in a fun and interactive way. The league’s opening game will take place Sept. 9 in Foxboro, MA.
Among the sponsored attractions:
- Run to Daylight, sponsored by Ameriquest Mortgage, where fans can try to match strides for 40 yards.
- Down and Out, sponsored by Visa, where fans attempt to run a pass pattern through a maze of simulated defenders to catch a pass thrown to them by an automated machine.
- Quick Release, sponsored by Campbell’s, where fans can see how the speed of their passing compares to some of the quickest NFL passers.
- Field Goal Kick, sponsored by Gatorade, where fans try to score the game-winning points with a last-second field goal before a simulated rush in to foil the attempt.
- Let it Fly, sponsored by Canon, which allows fans to put themselves in the quarterback’s position, take aim downfield, and find out how far they can let it fly with a perfect spiral.
- Extra-Point Kick, sponsored by Coors, where fans can take their stance, wait for placement, and try to convert an extra point through regulation NFL uprights.
Two additional scheduled elements were modeled after real football skills competitions. Quarterback Challenge, sponsored by PlayStation, allows fans to show off their passing accuracy on special targets just like in the televised competition. In Pepsi Punt, Pass, and Kick, participants test their football skills in a replica of the annual nationwide youth football competition.
Free tickets will be distributed beginning each morning from Sept. 4-6 at the front gates of the festival, located at the Fan Pier Parking Lot in South Boston.