The NFL announced Monday that the league and its players will support October’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with its largest on-field presence and a national screening-reminder campaign. In collaboration with the American Cancer Society, the initiative, called “A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives,” encourages annual mammograms for women over 40.

Beginning on Oct. 4 and continuing throughout the month, NFL Breast Cancer Awareness games will feature:

• Players wearing pink cleats, wristbands, gloves, sideline caps, helmet decals, captains’ patches, sideline towels and quarterback towels
• Pink sideline caps for coaches and sideline personnel and pink ribbon pins for coaches and team executives
• On-field pink ribbon stencils and Crucial Catch wall banners
• Pink goal post padding in end zones
• K-balls with pink ribbon decals
• Pink coins used for coin toss
• Crucial Catch pink rally towels for all fans attending Sunday Night and Monday Night Football games on October 4-5

Game-worn pink merchandise and K-balls will be autographed postgame and auctioned off at NFL Auction (www.NFLAuction.NFL.com), with proceeds benefitting the American Cancer Society and team charities. Special pink merchandise will be available at www.NFLShop.com and in stadium retail stores, with a portion of proceeds going to breast cancer charities. 

In addition, members of the NFL Referees’ Association will donate a portion of their game pay to breast cancer charities in October. Their donations will total $24,000.  Officials will don pink-accented caps and pins for games throughout October.