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For Immediate Release Tuesday, June 18, 2013

CMA Entertainer of the Year Blake Shelton to Perform at 2013 Belk Bowl FanFest Will Perform Free Concert Prior to Belk Bowl Kickoff on December 28th

Charlotte, N.C. – The Belk Bowl today announced that multi-Grammy nominee and CMA Entertainer of the Year Blake Shelton will be the featured act at the 2013 Belk Bowl FanFest on Saturday, December 28. The Belk Bowl FanFest is free to the public and will begin at 11:00 a.m., with Shelton scheduled to begin his performance at 1:30 p.m. “I’m excited to be a part of the Belk Bowl this year and especially to finish this year up with friends in Charlotte,” says Blake, who is the CMA Awards’ reigning Entertainer of the Year and three-peat Male Vocalist of the Year. With nine consecutive No. 1 singles, he is one of the "most versatile of contemporary country singers" (The New York Times). His infectious multi-week No.1 hit, “Honey Bee" still holds the record for the fastest-selling digital Platinum single for a male country solo artist. His current smash hit, “Boys ‘Round Here” is his fastest rising No. 1 single to date and the second No. 1 single off of his current album Based On A True Story.... which Us Weekly gave a 3 ½ out of a 4 star review. “Blake Shelton is a tremendous addition to this year’s Belk Bowl,” says Jon Pollack, Belk’s executive vice president of sales promotion, marketing and eCommerce. “He personifies modern Southern music, and he is a great ambassador of the Southern lifestyle.” The 12th Annual Belk Bowl will be played on Saturday, December 28th, with a 3:20 p.m. kickoff and televised nationally on ESPN. It will be the only bowl game aired during the prime weekend time slot. The game features a matchup of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the American Athletic Conference (former Big East) and is played at in Charlotte, N.C. Public tickets will go on sale in the fall. The first college bowl game to call the Carolinas home, the Belk Bowl has averaged almost 60,000 fans each year, with three sellouts. In addition, the 2011 game was viewed by more than 15 million people. In 2003, it was named one of the five best start-ups in sports over the past five years by the Sports Business Journal, behind only the NFL Houston Texans and ESPN The Magazine. Individual tickets for the 2013 Belk Bowl will go on sale in early October and will be available through TicketMaster and the participating schools. Fans can visit the official website, www.BelkBowl.com, for more information about the game and surrounding events.

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About Belk, Inc. Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk, Inc. (www.belk.com) is the nation’s largest family owned and operated department store company with 301 Belk stores located in 16 Southern states. Founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, N.C., the company is in the third generation of Belk family leadership and has been committed to community involvement since its inception. Each year, Belk gives a portion of its pretax income back to the communities it serves. In the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2013, the company and its associates, customers and vendors, donated more than $19 million to those communities. Belk stores and belk.com offer a wide assortment of top national brands and private label fashion apparel, shoes and accessories for the entire family along with top name cosmetics, a wedding registry and a large selection of quality merchandise for the home. To connect with Belk go to: Belk Get Connected.

About Charlotte Sports Foundation The Charlotte Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization, runs the Belk Bowl and serves as the local organizing committee for the Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game. The foundation’s mission is to create, recruit and execute high-caliber athletic events for the City of Charlotte. In addition to adding new highly visible participatory events and elevating existing ones, the foundation also works to secure additional professional, collegiate and amateur events that will enrich Charlotte’s sports landscape.