On Saturday, February 6th, the fourth and final Pro Football Hall of Fame television program, "The Road to Canton: The 2010 Class", presented by Van Heusen and JC Penney will air nationally on NFL NETWORK from 5pm-7-pm, from the Super Bowl Media Headquarters in Ft Lauderdale. The show will exclusively announce the new members of the Class of 2010, from the 17 finalists. Hosted by Rich Eisen with guest analysts Steve Young, Rod Woodson and Michael Irving. First time nominees Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are favorites to enter the class. Up to seven new members may be selected. Also to be announced is the first time ever Fans Choice Vote, based on the season long campaign where fans have had a chance to vote for who they would like to see in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (www.fanschoice.com). For detailed information on the candidates, go to www.profootballhof.com. For NFL Network, Executive Producer Eric Weinberger, Charles Coplin Vice President of Programming, Jeff Kaiser, Director of Operations.

January 8th at 4pm, the third Pro Football Hall of Fame show, "The Road to Canton", presented by Van Heusen and JC Penney aired nationally on NFL Ntwork, revealing the 15 modern day finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010, George Veras and Joe Horrigan co-executive producers.

See the behind the scenes photos of the taping that took place on November 20th at the NFL Network Studios. Hosted by Paul Burmeister, he is joined by Hall Vice President Joe Horrigan, voting selector Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News, former selector Ray Didinger and Voice Your Choice campaign spokesperson, Hall of Famer Steve Young (www.fanschoice.com).

For the show on January 8th, Jared Bell of USA Today joins the panel, replacing Ray Didinger. Not only does the show exclusively announce the Hall's nominees, but for the first time ever, reveals the fan vote for their choices for the Hall of Fame. The show is sponsored by Van Heusen and JC Penney. The final show annnoucing the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010 will be live from the NFL Media Center at the Super Bowl, on Saturday night February 5th at 5pm -- all exclusively on NFL Network. For NFL Network, Executive Producer Eric Weinberger, Charles Coplin Vice President of Programming, Jeff Kaiser, Director of Operations.

CLICK HERE for more info...

In his role as President/CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enterprise, Veras negotiated the largest sponsorship deal in the 45 year history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Phillips-Van Heusen, a seven billion dollar worldwide merchandise company with brands like Calvin Klein and Timberlake. For this first time in history, fans can vote their choice for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in a unique "Voice Your Choice" program and campaign, that kicked off on September 18th with the first of four "Road to Canton" television specials on NFL Network (See www.nflnetwork.com for other show dates) and a ten million dollar branding campaign (New York Times, Ad Age, Sports Business Journal)

In addition to fans voting for their favorites, there will be Hall of Famer appearances at different stadiums around the country, to get the word out to the fans. Already, Dick Butkus, Lynn Swann and Gale Sayers appeared prior to the Steelers-Bears game at Soldier Field on September 19th, followed by John Hannah, Mike Haynes, and Andre Tippett in New England on October 20th and then on November 1st in Green Bay, Bart Starr, Paul Krause and Jan Stenerud. These appearances will continue throughout the season.

Fans who register at JC Penney, will be eligible for sweepstake prizes for the Legends/Hall of Fame golf tournament at Pebble Beach, tickets to the Super Bowl and a chance to attend the 2010 Class Induction television show on February 6th in Miami and spend a week in Canton for the Class of 2010 Enshrinement, the gold jacket dinner and attend the NFL Kickoff preseason game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.

"This is a unique opportunity for fans to let the Selectors know who they want to see in the Hall of Fame. We see it as a way for the Hall of Fame to connect to their national fame base, for all those who can't get to Canton, but want to see their heroes get into the Hall of Fame", said Veras

The deal is for two years with a three year option.

Veras has been signed to be the senior producer for UNIVERSAL SPORTS OLYMPIC NEWS CHANNEL as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Veras rejoins the NBC Olympic family, after having produced cross country skiing and biathlon for NBC at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics and all the HD programming for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. This will be Veras's 6th Olympics, starting in 1980 at Lake Placid and the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics.

Veras will be responsible for 5 hours of daily Olympic Sports News, with a staff of 75, originating from Vancouver and live from the Los Angeles studios, on Universal Sports Television, owned by NBC and in 56 million homes, more than NFL Network. There will be four shows-from 7-9am an Olympics Sports Central, reviewing all the events of the previous day, with the latest overnight developments.Then a first, an Olympic "Meet the Press", hosted by Jimmy Roberts and Alan Abrahamson, from 9-930am. This is followed by a one hour (9:30am-10:30am) "Ask The Experts" with Olympic athlete interviews and commentary from the NBC Olympic announcing team in Vancouver. At 10:30am-11am a "Today in Vancouver" profiling what is in store for viewers on the upcoming Olympic Day on NBC. Finally, a one hour wrap up on all the great figure skating from the night before.

Executive Producer for Universal Sports, 15 time Emmy Award winner David Michael says "I worked with George at CBS when I produced the Tour De France and was looking for an experienced producer, who can not only produce studio shows, but can bring that special type of "Olympic" feel to the coverage that we have at NBC for Olympic fans looking for in depth post event analysis. His passion for the Olympics is only exceeded by his energy and enthusiasm to make every show memorable"

Veras said, "I thank David, Molly Solomon (Senior Olympic Producer) and President of Universal Sports, Carlos Silva, for entrusting in me this unique show format, that for the first time, will let us dig deep into post-day Olympic analysis for an Olympic audience hungry for this information. It is not often you get a chance to develop so many hours of new and groundbreaking programming"

See the 2/4/10 Press Release for more information.

"The Legend of Jimmy the Greek" aired at 8pm on November 10th and drew one million viewers, tying it for the most watched ESPN 30 for 30 to date with the Len Bias story.

Prior to the show, Veras conducted radio interviews with Mike Francesa on WFAN on Tuesday November 9th (go to www.fan.com to listen) Peter King and Randy Cross on SIRIUS NFL Radio, Eleni Daniels on Hellenic Public Radio (listen to the interview) and numerous newspaper interviews.

The show was most favorably reviewed, with Director Fritz Mitchell receiving many plaudits for his insightful piecing together of Jimmy's incredible life, separating the myth from the reality. Appearing in the show are Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, Irv Cross, Dan Rather, George Veras, Frank Deford, former NFL Today writer Gary Paul Gates, former NFL Today Director Bob Fishman and Robert Wussler, the man credited with bringing the four together for The NFL Today.

In addition, for the first time ever, Jimmy's son, Anthony Snyder, and Jimmy's brother and sister appeared in the show. Mitchell employed an effective first person voice of Jimmy, using well known Greek performer Basil, as well as a "Greek" look alike actor. Where other networks turned down the show, Veras finally convinced ESPN, after five years, to take on the subject, with current Managing Editor John Walsh and senior producers Mark Durand, Connor Schell and John Dahl supporting the project. There will be other airings of the show. Check ESPN 30 for 30.

VCI Produces Videos for Cleveland POPS Orchestra

Saturday, January 30, 2010 - 8:00 p.m.
A Night at the Oscars
(Award-Winning Themes from Eight Decades of Movies)
Severance Hall

The Cleveland POPS Orchestra celebrates the Oscars as they take the audience on a musical and visual journey through the best of films and film scores from 80 years of movies. Charlie Chaplin, High Noon, Bridge On the River Kwai, Henry Mancini, Rocky, The Godfather, ET, On Golden Pond, The Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Forrest Gump, Star Wars, Dances With Wolves and more. The musical selections will be visually enhanced with the use of clips culled from some of the best Oscar-winning movies. Emmy Award winning Producer George Veras produced exciting videos for two big screens to entertain the audience and VCI is the leading producer of videos for US orchestras. Veras also produced a two hour television special for NBC last December, called "Hot Sounds, Cool Ice", with Peter Cetera and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.