NEW YORK ? 12/21/2005 A total of 1.9 million Pro Bowl player votes were cast via the Sprint (NYSE: S) wireless service, nearly a 200-fold increase over the 10,000 wireless votes tallied last year, the NFL and Sprint announced today.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback PEYTON MANNING ranked first among Sprint wireless voters while Atlanta Falcons quarterback MICHAEL VICK, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver MARVIN HARRISON, Seattle Seahawks running back SHAUN ALEXANDER and Colts running back EDGERRIN JAMES round out the top five respectively.
The teams will be announced at 4 p.m. (ET) today on the 2006 Pro Bowl Selection Show on ESPN. The Pro Bowl will be played in Hawaii on Sunday, Feb. 12 and televised by ESPN.
Fans were able to cast their Pro Bowl ballots by text messaging from a phone using Sprint wireless service to vote for their favorite players at each position.
Fans who voted for their Pro Bowl players were entered for a chance to win a trip to the Pro Bowl in the 2006 NFL Pro Bowl Sweepstakes presented by Sprint. The Grand Prize includes an all-expense-paid trip to the game in Honolulu as well as exclusive experiences such as the chance to meet and talk football with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback JOHN ELWAY, attend practice, take a tour of Aloha Stadium, obtain pregame sideline passes and more.
The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are made up of the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group's vote counts one-third towards determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl.
The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. It was the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting in 1995.
Sprint revolutionized the way NFL fans get their information when it launched NFL Mobile in October giving fans exclusive access to NFL content and original programming. NFL Mobile programming includes an all-NFL-all-the-time television channel -- NFL Network; exclusive video- and audio-on-demand highlights from NFL Films; and up-to-the-minute team/player scores, stats and injury.
Listed below are the top 10 overall All-Star vote-getters via Sprint's wireless service.
Top 10 Sprint Wireless Vote Getters
(Rank, Pos., Name, Team)
