"Sprint is a fabulous partner of U.S. Snowboarding and we're excited to be showcasing their brand and technology at snowboarding's biggest event series in the world," said USSA Vice President, Sales and Marketing Ted Morris. Sprint has been a USSA partner since 1993

Sprint will be on board for the Dec. 12-13 Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, as well as the big season finale Mar. 13-15 at Vermont's Killington resort.

The Grand Prix has made a significant mark in snowboarding providing the launching pad for 14 U.S. Olympic medalists in just three Olympics. The 2009-10 Grand Prix will be the halfpipe qualifying series for the U.S. Olympic Team.

The opening Grand Prix will feature one of the strongest international fields in history, with 20 nations expected to compete in the Copper Mountain superpipe with qualifying Thursday, Dec. 11 and Friday, Dec. 12 and finals Saturday, Dec. 13.

The opening event field at Copper Mountain will include Olympic medalists Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT), Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT), Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO), X Games medalists Steve Fisher (Breckenridge, CO) and Scotty Lago (Seabrook, NH), and the men's 2008 Grand Prix overall champion Louie Vito (Sandy, UT). Olympic champion Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) and Bleiler opened last year's Grand Prix with wins.

The event will be broadcast on NBC Sports on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET, and will be carried live on Go211.com at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 13. Versus will carry the superpipe Dec. 27 at 5:00 P.M. ET.

Fan can also watch highlights on their Sprint mobile phones. Sprint's SnowZone (text SNOW to 7777 for access) offers free ski and snowboarding information such as snow reports, athlete bios and more, including video highlights of the Grand Prix.