Washington 9-Year-Old Wins Dream Trip as Panini Super Bowl 50 Kid Reporter

Nine-year-old fourth-grader Riley Ottele received a surprise visit from his mom and dad on Tuesday during his lunch period at St. Anthony School in Renton, Wash. Of course, Ryan and Staci Ottele knew something that Riley didn’t. Ryan’s phone was about to ring and the former Super Bowl Champion on the other end of the phone had something to say to Riley.

“My parents came to school and said someone was going to call me on the phone,” Riley said. “I was very excited and nervous when I received that call, which was from Trent Dilfer! The conversation was unreal. Trent was nice. I was excited. I kept saying ‘Oh my gosh!’ It felt like I was dreaming.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqVrdWhlHhY]

Riley wasn’t dreaming. The phone call was real — and so was the message Dilfer had to deliver: Riley is going to Super Bowl 50 as the grand prize winner in Panini America’s season-long Super Bowl Kid Reporter contest. With a huge assist from Dilfer himself, Riley will cover Super Bowl 50 Opening Night interviewing players from the AFC and NFC Champions; and he’ll will be treated to a week that he and his family will never forget.

“The Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter has become a great season-long promotion for our NFL/NFLPA trading cards. This year we received more than 120,000 entries, nearly 50 percent more entries over last year,” said Jason Howarth, Panini America Vice President of Marketing. “We also added a new element this year where the top 10 finalists had to submit a video on why they wanted to be the Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter and incorporate a trading card element into the video. Riley was the far away winner based on the feedback from our judges, including Trent Dilfer.”

You can check out Riley’s finalist video here.

Ryan insists that Riley beat the odds by entering just 20 or so contest codes pulled from Panini America packs the family purchased at DJ’s Sportscards in Renton, Wash. and through online group breakers such as LiveBoxBreaks.net and BomberBreaks.com. “I thought there was a 99.9 percent chance I wouldn’t win,” Riley said.

Now, Riley, a Denver Broncos fan, and his Seahawks-loving parents are preparing for their first trip to the Super Bowl.

“It’s going to be pretty exciting,” Riley said. “I’m most looking forward to watching the Super Bowl and Opening Night — because I’ll get to interview some of my favorite players. It’s really stunning because you wouldn’t think that buying a $5 pack of Panini America trading cards could win you a trip to the Super Bowl.”

Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for continued coverage of Riley’s trip to Super Bowl 50.