Aug. 23, 2006

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. Company, has agreed to title sponsor the four-year old post-season college football game formerly known as the Fort Worth Bowl, which is now the Armed Forces Bowl. With those changes, the official name becomes the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

"Bell Helicopter is pleased and proud to be the sponsor of the Armed Forces Bowl," said Michael Redenbaugh, Chief Executive Officer of Bell Helicopter-Textron. "Not only is it an honor to build the products our military use in performing their missions, but also to recognize them for their service to our country. Hopefully this game will provide them a little fun and relaxation during the holidays. We look forward to a great football game with thousands of military men and women in the stadium."

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, an ESPN Regional Television (ERT) owned-and-operated event, will be played Saturday, December 23, and will be aired during prime time at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN, live from Amon G. Carter Stadium.

"I feel that we have scored two major victories by securing a great, internationally-renowned company in Bell Helicopter as our title partner, and also by changing the name of the bowl to honor our nation's men and women in uniform, which gives us tremendous pride," said Tom Starr, Executive Director of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

Bell Helicopter-Textron is an American helicopter (both commercial and military) and tiltrotor aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth. Bell Helicopter provides the various branches of service with the world's best military helicopters, including the V-22, the ARH-70A Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter and the AH-1Z and UH-1Y H-1 helicopters. A sister company, Textron Systems, produces the new M1117 Armored Security Vehicle, which is designed for speed and for deflecting rocket-propelled grenades and land mines.

This year's Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl will feature a battle between top teams from the Mountain West Conference and Conference-USA. Commencing in 2007, the Pacific-10 Conference will rotate with Conference-USA every other year to take on a member of the Mountain West Conference.

In last year's game, the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference exhibited a powerful offensive display while containing a vaunted University of Houston attack in a 42-13 victory over the Cougars of Conference-USA.

This year's bowl game will be the feature attraction of a night filled with Patriotic overtones. Included in the festivities will be a fanfest area showcasing military hardware; a flyover; a demonstration by one of the top military skydiving teams; induction ceremonies on the field; a military band and honor guard; the presentation of a "Great American Patriot Award;" and possibly live remotes from men and women in uniform at bases throughout the world, among several other military-oriented themes.

Military veterans will receive major discounts on tickets, and all active duty personnel will be honored with complimentary tickets through contributions by various corporations. A portion of local ticket sales will go to designated military charities.

Tickets for this year's game can be obtained by calling the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl office at (817) 810-0012, or by going to the website for more information at ArmedForcesBowl.com.