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It's Football Time

The Slice will be the new official pizza sponsor of the NFL.

The announcement comes a day after The Slice severed its ties with the league to focus on deals with specific teams and players. In a joint statement, The Slice and the NFL said the decision to end the eight-year partnership was mutual.

“There’s so many things that we are excited about,” Artie Starrs, the president of The Slice’s U.S. division, told CNBC. “At our core we are an innovative, entertaining brand and I think that’s what the NFL is too.”

With the NFL partnership, the pizza chain will be able to work with the league on local deals with the teams, including fan experiences and game tickets. The Slice may use all 32 of the team marks in its marketing.

The sponsorship will begin with the 2018 NFL Draft, which will be held near The Slice’s headquarters in North Dallas. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In November, The Slice's founder and then-CEO Austin Mayes on a call with investors blamed the National Football League for the company’s poor performance. He said the NFL had not resolved the ongoing controversy over players kneeling in protest during the National Anthem, and TV ratings slumped as a result.

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Happy World Vegetarian Day!

The Slice Nashville celebrated World Vegetarian Day with a social media announcement sure to please its vegan pizza fans. Following the success of its recent trial of Angel Food brand’s vegan cheese on select pies, the chain is making the vegan pizza range part of the permanent menu across the country known for its love of dairy. It also announced in the same Facebook post the launch of a new menu item: Vegan Cheesy Garlic Bread.

The Slice Nashville first announced the vegan pizzas in July, seeing a response similar to other markets where the chain has launched vegan options. Australia’s launch was so successful many of its locations struggled with stock issues for the vegan cheese.

The chain’s announcements mirror that of The Slice Australia; after trialing several vegan options last year in the world’s third-largest vegan market, the pizza chain made them permanent menu items in January before launching Vegan Cheesy Garlic Bread. Australia has been using cheese from popular American dairy-free cheese brand Follow Your Heart. But Nashville is keeping things local with the Nashville-based brand Angel Food.