The Walt Disney Company and ESPN back Special Olympics worldwide

The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and the Special Olympics announced a two-year worldwide project that, by means of the Special Olympics Unified Sports competitions and the sporting spirit, will promote an atmosphere of inclusion and social acceptance for differently abled people.Announced by John Skipper, president of ESPN, and Timothy Shriver, general manager and general director of the Special Olympics, the new collaboration expands their 30-year commitment to showing off the courage and talent of these amazing athletes by Disney and ESPN. Some of the new funds will be used for Special Olympics competitions around the world that will help expand Unified Sports and improve the marketing and branding campaign for Special Olympics, with the goal of creating greater awareness of this extraordinary sports program.With a weighty economic investment, Disney and ESPN will support the Special Olympics’ goal to sign up before 2015 a million participants in Unified Sports competitions, including differently abled athletes, team members, coaches and trainers.Eight growth markets have been targeted, including four in the United States – Connecticut, Central Florida, Southern California and Seattle – and four international ones – Argentina, Brazil, India and Mexico. ESPN will also help Special Olympics Unified Sports develop and strengthen its international brand by providing help with marketing, market research, advertising and public announcements on all ESPN platforms.