Visa, NFL Kick Off Cell Phone Game

Visa USA has teenaged football fans playing a different kind of game this week.

Visa and the NFL are hosting Financial Football, a cell phone game that teaches kids how to manage money. The game, timed to Super Bowl XLI, is an extension of Visa’s money management education program that has brought NFL players to classrooms and other teen-friendly venues.

Visa is now in the second year of its financial education program, Practical Money Skills for Life. The program is a joint venture with the NFL and the NFL players’ association, PLAYERS Inc.

Financial Football began as a video game that has been downloaded and played over 100,000 times before Visa adapted it for cell phone use. This week, two NFL stars have been hyping the game in Miami: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown helped coach Miami Beach High School students to play the game.

Sprint and Cingular subscribers access the game by texting VISA to 24421. (This game, of course, is free.) Players answer money management questions to score points on the field; wrong answers cost the players yardage.

Details on the game are posted at PracticalMoneySkills.com/CellFootball.

"As part of Visa's longstanding commitment to financial education, we are constantly developing new and creative ways to get students to learn how to budget, invest and save for their futures," said Michael Rolnick, director of Visa USA, in a statement.  "Cell phones are the perfect way to reach teenagers and have them learn about financial responsibility.”