Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowl wide receiver/kick returner Antonio Brown and Pittsburgh Penguins All-Star left wing James Neal will appear at Peoples Natural Gas Field during the 2012 season as part of the Altoona Curve promotional schedule.
Brown will visit Friday, April 6 when the Curve host Erie as part of opening weekend. Neal visits Altoona on Monday, Aug. 27 for the Curve-Akron contest.
Both Brown and Neal will take part in pre-game festivities and sign autographs for fans during the game.
"We're extremely pleased to announce the appearances of these two all-stars," Curve General Manager Rob Egan said. "Our fans have really enjoyed interacting with the Steelers and Penguins players we've brought in the last few years, and I'm sure Antonio Brown and James Neal will take it up a notch because of the high level of success they've had recently."
Brown, 23, played in all 16 regular season games for the Steelers in 2011 while going over the 1,000-yard receiving mark. The Florida native was selected to his first Pro Bowl as a kick returner after averaging 27.3 yards per kick return and 10.8 yards per punt return with one touchdown.
Brown was selected by the Steelers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Central Michigan and played in nine games during his rookie season.
Neal, 24, has scored 30 goals and racked up 57 points through 59 games played this season as the top-line left wing for the Penguins. A second-round selection by the Dallas Stars in 2005, Neal came to Pittsburgh by way of a trade during the 2010-11 season when he was swapped along with Matt Niskanen to the Penguins in exchange for Alex Goligoski.
The Ontario native's 30 goals this season are a career-high in his four years in the NHL. Of his 30 goals this season, 13 have come on power-play opportunities, tying him for the league lead in that category.
This past weekend, Neal signed a six-year, $30 million contract extension with the Pens that prevented him from becoming a restricted free agent on July 1.
The pair of appearances headlines a five-game ticket plan for 2012 that the Curve are dubbing the Black & Gold Star Pack. Also included in the five-game plan are two giveaway nights and the July 4 Fireworks Night.
Keeping with the theme of Black & Gold stars, two of the other games in the plan are centered on players in the Pirates' minor league system. Fans will get to attend the Starling Marte Canvas Painting Giveaway Night on Friday, May 4 and the Gerrit Cole Fireball Giveaway on July 20.
Fans can purchase the Black & Gold Star Pack for as low as $30 for a Grandstand seat. Altoona opens its 14th season on April 5 against Erie at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
