Fans to join Race for the Championship with "Watch. Click. Win" Online Sweepstakes

INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time, track & field fans around the country will have a chance to share in the success of their favorite athletes, picking the male the female they believe will be crowned Visa Champions as part of the Visa Championship Series "Watch. Click. Win." Online Sweepstakes. Beginning with the Penn Relays, fans can support their favorite athlete on his/her journey by logging onto www.usatf.org/win and voting for the male and female athletes they think will be the Visa Champions at the end of the outdoor season.

Following their favorite athletes online and via television broadcasts, fans may submit an entry once an hour, once a day, once a week, and may change their entries as the Visa Championship Series progresses. By logging ontowww.usatf.org/win, fans can select the athlete they think will win the title of Visa Champion, and the winning point total that will be assessed to their top performance, using the IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics. Fans can begin submitting entries on Wednesday, April 27, 2005, with entries closing on June 17. Only each fan's most recent entry for each category (male and female) will be eligible.

Fans who select the correct male and female Visa Champions will be placed into a pool, and the winner will be randomly selected.Fans have the opportunity to win great prizes including being a guest of Visa at a Visa-sponsored event.

"The Visa Championship Series 'Watch. Click. Win.' Online Sweepstakes allows us to expand our athlete incentive award program to also reward loyal fans of track and field during the outdoor Visa Championship Series," said Michael Lynch, senior vice president, Visa USA. "Fans who correctly predict the winning male and female Visa Champions, will be entered for a chanceto be a guest of Visa at their choice of marquee Visa sponsorship marketing properties, including the NFL Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Pebble Beach, Daytona 500, Kentucky Derby or the Tony Awards."

Visa Champions

The male and female athlete with the top overall performance in the 2005 Visa Championship Series will be named Visa Champion and receive a $25,000 bonus. In addition, each Visa Champion will have the opportunity to be a guest of Visa at one of several premier events: Super Bowl, NFL Pro Bowl®, DAYTONA 500®, Kentucky Derby, Tony Awards® or Pebble Beach® Weekend. Shot putter John Godina and sprinter Angela Daigle made history during the 2005 Indoor Visa Championship series as the first Visa Champions, winning their titles with world-leading performances at the USA Indoor Championships.

The top American male finisher and top American female finisher in each event of the Visa Championship Series, including the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, will have their performances assigned a point total based on the IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics. The athlete whose single-best performance has the highest point total at the end of the Visa Championship Series will be named the Visa Champion.

Although the top performance can come at any of the Visa Championship Series meets, an athlete must compete at the USA Outdoor Championships in order to be named Visa Champion. Athletes competing on the high school or college level are not eligible. Ties will be broken by determining which tied athlete had the best mark at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, based on the IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics.

About Visa USA

Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Jointly owned by nearly 14,000 financial institutions, Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance, and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payments systems - Members, cardholders and merchants. Through its Members, more than 458 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders, which are accepted at over 5.7 million locations within the United States. Each year, U.S.-based financial institutions rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.3 trillion in transactions with virtually 100 percent reliability.

Worldwide, cardholders in over 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accepted at nearly 22 million locations, accounting for $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.

Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, anyway.

To enter the Visa Championship Series "Watch. Click. Win." Online Sweepstakes, visit www.usatf.org/win

For more information on the Visa Championship and the Race for the Championship, visit www.usatf.org/visa.