ATLANTA, Jun 23, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

The Home Depot (NYSE: HD), the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced that it has signed a three- year agreement to become the presenting sponsor of ESPN's "College GameDay." The show will be titled ESPN's "College GameDay Built By The Home Depot."

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Home Depot will be working with ESPN to design and build a new set for College GameDay, which will include Home Depot's logo in a prominent position on the set. The Sponsorship agreement includes commercial spots, a series of Home Depot sponsored features during programming and a special seating area on the set of College GameDay to provide its associates and guests with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes viewing opportunity. The agreement also extends to other ESPN properties, including ESPN.com, ESPN Radio and ESPN The Magazine.

As a part of the sponsorship, The Home Depot receives marketing and advertising rights within ABC's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the opportunity to run special promotions and advertising around each of the four BCS games, including the 2004 National Championship game, to be held at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

"This sponsorship extends Home Depot's leadership position in college football and provides us with a high visibility platform to reach our customers," said John Costello, executive vice president, chief marketing officer for The Home Depot. "The comprehensive, multi-year sponsorship allows The Home Depot to leverage key ABC and ESPN properties and programs, and affords us with unique marketing opportunities to extend these sponsorships to our customers and associates."

"The notion of marrying two strong brands like Home Depot and ESPN's College GameDay is a great example of how ESPN ABC Sports Sales customizes a marketing program to suit our customer's needs," said Ed Erhardt, President ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales. "This relationship is built by the best utilization of all our multimedia assets to help Home Depot reach sports fans."

"College football and home improvement projects are two things that people associate with the weekend, particularly Saturdays. This sponsorship allows Home Depot to strengthen that connection with our consumers," Costello added. In addition to its new agreement with ABC and ESPN, The Home Depot sponsors CBS for college football and NCAA basketball, and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) for college football.

About The Home Depot

Founded in 1978, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States, with fiscal 2002 sales of $58.2 billion. The company employs approximately 315,000 associates and has 1,585 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, eight Canadian provinces and Mexico. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

About ESPN ABC Sports Sales

ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales, the sports sales and marketing arm of The Walt Disney Company, is the world's leading integrated sports marketing and sales, media entity. The company represents an unparalleled collection of multimedia sports assets and leads the industry in developing specialized programs designed to drive clients' marketing goals and initiatives.

SOURCE The Home Depot

Kyle Farnham of Manning Selvage & Lee, +1-404-870-6840, for The
Home Depot, or Alison Lazar of ESPN ABC, +1-212-456-0226
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http://www.homedepot.com

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