Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE @ProFootballHOF 06/27/17 #PFHOF17 Contact: Pete Fierle, Chief of Staff & Vice President of Communications [email protected]; 330-588-3622 DAVID HILL NAMED THE 2017 WINNER OF PRESTIGIOUS PETE ROZELLE RADIO-TV AWARD FORMER FOX SPORTS CHAIRMAN TO BE HONORED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT DURING ENSHRINEMENT CEREMONY ON AUG. 5 CANTON, OHIO – David Hill, who as the first president of FOX Sports launched the NFL on FOX in 1994, has been named the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. The award, presented annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, recognizes “longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.” Hill will be presented with the award at the 2017 Enshrinement Ceremony on Saturday, August 5 in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Said Rupert Murdoch, Hill’s former boss and Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox, "David Hill re-imagined and re-invigorated the sports television experience for millions of American football fans with his remarkably innovative approach to game and studio production, and this honor by the Pro Football Hall of Fame is extremely well-deserved.” Born and raised in Australia, Hill worked his way up the ranks from a 17-year-old copy boy at the Daily Telegraph in Sydney to the launching Sky Television (Britain’s first satellite distributed television service) to being appointed by Rupert Murdoch to lead FOX Sports. Hill launched an innovative, fully functional major U.S. television network sports division in just eight months. Over the next 20 years he also directly or indirectly oversaw the launch of several media outlets, including FOX Sports Net, FOXSports.com, Big Ten Network, FOX Sports 1 and others. During his tenure at FOX, Hill oversaw tens of thousands of games and events aired by FOX Sports and its affiliated national and regional channels, including six Super Bowls, COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE 14 World Series, five NHL Stanley Cup Finals and the Daytona 500 eight times. He also created and/or served as Executive Producer of countless studio, pregame and postgame shows. Many of the techniques and innovations he introduced upon launching FOX Sports ushered in a modern era of sports television production. The consummate innovator, Hill gave NFL TV coverage a much-needed injection of youth, enthusiasm and energy, and forced all NFL rights holders to quickly follow. The result was an improved television presentation of football that has the league on the cutting-edge in terms of video production for over two decades and counting. A few innovations he conceived or introduced to American sports television viewers through NFL on FOX coverage, include: FoxBox, the on-screen constant-score-and-clock graphic that also made possible real-time score/time updates from games league-wide; the yellow on-screen first down line, the patent for which bears Hill’s name; and FOX NFL SUNDAY, a one-hour pregame show, that has been the most-watched NFL pregame show since its inception in 1994. When Hill stepped down from his position as FOX Sports Chairman in 2015, he started his own production company, Hilly, Inc. The company’s first undertaking was to produce the 88th Oscarsâ which aired in February 2016, receiving major critical acclaim. He is currently co-promoting the U.S. Masters, the first World Series of Darts event hosted on American soil, which takes place at the Tropicana Las Vegas next month. “David Hill was great for the NFL on television,” shared Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden. “When FOX got the NFL years ago, David was open to anything and everything. He brought the FoxBox and the first down line and a lot of other great ideas to the screen.” Hill is the first executive to win the Pet Rozelle Radio-Television Award since Roone Arledge in 2001, and it so happens that Hill is a great admirer of Mr. Arledge. PAST WINNERS OF THE PETE ROZELLE RADIO-TV AWARD: 2016 – James Brown 2006 – Lesley Visser 1996 – Jack Buck 2015 – Tom Jackson 2005 – Myron Cope 1995 – Frank Gifford 2014 – Bob Trumpy 2004 – Van Miller 1994 – Pat Summerall 2013 – Al Michaels 2003 – Don Criqui 1993 – Curt Gowdy 2012 – Len Dawson 2002 – John Madden 1992 – Chris Schenkel 2011 – Jim Nantz 2001 – Roone Arledge 1991 – Ed Sabol 2010 – Chris Berman 2000 – Ray Scott 1990 – Lindsey Nelson 2009 – Irv Cross 1999 – Dick Enberg 1989 – Bill McPhail 2008 – Dan Dierdorf 1998 – Val Pinchbeck 2007 – Don Meredith 1997 – Charlie Jones COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE 2017 ENSHRINEMENT WEEK POWERED BY JOHNSON CONTROLS EVENT TICKETS Tickets to Enshrinement Ceremony, as well as the Hall of Fame Game and “Concert for Legends” are still available. Tickets to all three events can be purchased online at www.ProFootballHOF.com/tickets. A direct link to the ticket page can be found at: www.etix.com/ticket/v/11427/pro-football-hall-of-fame-enshrinement-weekend-events. #PFHOF17 ABOUT THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME Located in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of the National Football League, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit institution with the Mission to Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values, & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE. Hundreds of thousands of fans from across the globe travel to Canton annually to experience “The Most Inspiring Place on Earth!” that chronicles America’s most popular sport. Construction on Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village, a $700 million development project that includes nine main components, is under way in Canton to transform the Hall of Fame’s campus. For more information about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, please visit ProFootballHOF.com; @ProFootballHOF on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE .