Jury duty? Urgent hair removal? An alien abduction?

All great reasons for why you can’t make it into the office, according to ESPN, for it’s new Ditch Day campaign that encourages baseball fans to skip work and enjoy an afternoon at the ballpark instead.

For the contest, fans can choose the MLB team they’d like to see live, then tweet their best Ditch Day excuse using the team’s contest hashtag. Judges will pick the five most original entries from each team’s fanbase and those winners, and their guest, will presumably use said excuse to attend a day game courtesy of ESPN.

Over the course of the campaign, which launched August 12, ESPN— collaboration with creative agency Droga5—will distribute a total of 300 free tickets.

Ditch Days is a marketing initiative that extends from ESPN’s brand campaign Life Needs Sports. Launched in May, it celebrates the powerful role sports play in fans’ lives by acknowledging that all fans are unique, with their own vernacular, sense of humor, styles and traditions.

RELATED: ESPN Launches ‘Life Needs Sports’ Global Brand Campaign

“We wanted a tangible and fun way to share the Life Needs Sports campaign with our fans. Giving them a way to take the day off and enjoy sports is the perfect way to do it,” said Wanda Young, SVP Marketing and Consumer Engagement. “We look forward to seeing the fan’s creativity.”

Tags: espn


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