ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Alaska USA FCU is partnering with the NFL, Visa and the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to launch Financial Football in this state.
Developed by the NFL and Visa, Financial Football is a free educational video game and classroom curriculum to teach Alaska’s youth about improving their money-management skills. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development plans to distribute the game to nonprofit organizations, middle schools, and high schools across the state, Practical Money Skills reported.
“Building financial literacy is absolutely critical if we are going to ensure that our children succeed as adults,” Alaska Governor Bill Walker told Practical Money Skills. “Financial Football communicates these important concepts in a way that resonates with young people, and helps them build a successful financial future.”
Available online at www.alaska.financialfootball.com, Financial Football puts students’ fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a free iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.
“Alaska USA is a strong believer in promoting financial education and helping teenagers understand the importance of making good financial decisions,” said Dan McCue, SVP of corporate administration at Alaska USA. “By learning concepts from a program like Financial Football, such as how to set a budget, how to save for the future, and even how investments, and credit work, students can develop financial management skills that will last a lifetime.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you make minimum wage or millions,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner told Practical Money Skills. “If you don’t learn to budget, save, invest, and pay bills on time, the consequences can be devastating.”
“Visa believes the most effective way to advance financial education is to have both government and the private sector working together to teach students and consumers about the importance of developing sound money-management skills,” said Nat Sillin, head of U.S. financial education at Visa.
This launch is part of a national educational campaign with Visa, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association.
Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) a free, award-winning financial education program that reaches millions of people around the world each year.