Goodyear to Provide Two Blimps for TV Coverage of US Open Tennis Championships

US Open Aerials to be Broadcast in HD for the First Time

AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 30 -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is scheduled to provide so much aerial television coverage of the US Open Tennis Championships for CBS Sports and the USA Network that it is sending two of its famous airships to New York for the task.

Goodyear's Florida-based blimp "Stars & Stripes" and its Ohio-based "Spirit of Goodyear" sister ship will share aerial coverage of this prestigious Grand Slam tournament from the United States Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The "Stars & Stripes" starts its coverage on opening day today for USA Network, and the "Spirit of Goodyear" will be overhead when the tournament ends on Sunday, Sept. 12, covering the Men's Final for CBS Sports.

The "Spirit of Goodyear," which made TV history on Aug. 9, when it provided the first-ever, live high-definition broadcast from a blimp on ABC's AFC-NFC Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, will achieve another milestone at the US Open, when the airship transmits its spectacular pictures from above the tennis center and around New York live in HD.

The Goodyear blimps have been a familiar sight over American cities for almost 80 years, providing the first aerial coverage of a televised sports event at the 1960 Orange Bowl for CBS.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. The company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 80 facilities in 28 countries around the world. Goodyear employs about 85,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the Goodyear on the Web at http://www.goodyear.com/ .