MEDIA ALERTS

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE RENEWS TITLE SPONSORSHIP OF BOWL GAME FOR FOUR ADDITIONAL YEARS

Tampa, FL -- Outback Bowl officials announced today that title sponsor Outback Steakhouse has agreed to renew its contract with the New Year's Day Bowl for four additional years through the January 2014 game.The commitment, which begins after the upcoming 2010 game, will extend the Tampa-based restaurants name sponsorship of the game to a total of 19 years, the second longest college bowl game title sponsorship in history.

"The Outback Bowl is a great way to kick off the New Year," said Bill Allen, CEO of OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC. "We are excited to be the title sponsor of this annual tradition that is embraced by our Tampa Bay community and those who follow collegiate football. On behalf of all of us at Outback Steakhouse, I want to congratulate Jim McVay and his team for their success in building one of the most respected bowls in the country."

"We are thrilled and honored to announce the continuation of our long-term Title Sponsorship relationship with Outback Steakhouse," said Outback Bowl President/CEO Jim McVay. "We are proud to represent the finest restaurant company in the world. Our friends at Outback Steakhouse are the ultimate great corporate citizens in our community. No one has been more generous, more active with charities and more of a proponent of Tampa Bay. With Outback Steakhouse's commitment the Outback Bowl will continue to create an enormous economic impact regionally and allow us to continue to positively showcase the Tampa Bay area both nationally and internationally. They are simply the best. We are fortunate to have them as our Title Sponsor and we are all fortunate to have them headquartered in Tampa."

Since Outback Steakhouse became the Bowl's title sponsor in 1995 the game has generated over $ 450 million in economic impact for the Tampa Bay community, tens-of-millions of dollars in exposure for the region and contributed $ 67 million in payouts to the 23 universities in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference.

The Bowl is celebrating its 24th game in January and typically sells out attracting tens-of-thousands of out-of-market visitors to the area each year. Last years' game attracted fans from 48 states and was televised in 90 countries.
The Outback Bowl will begin negotiations soon with network partner ESPN and officials from the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences to extend those relationships as well.

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