 |
|
| For Immediate Release |
ESPN PR
|
| July 9, 2007 | 860-766-2000
|
ESPN Kicks Off 2007 Fantasy Football SeasonFree Live Fantasy Football Returns to ESPN.com; Free Live Scoring and Mobile Alerts;
|
|
ESPN.com's daily original program, 'Fantasy Focus,' covers Fantasy Baseball and other sports now, and will turn its eye to Fantasy Football later this summer. |
Across ESPN media, fans will also find a complete lineup of news, information, analysis and entertainment including a weekly Sunday morning ESPNEWS program, an interactive Sunday ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV program, the daily ESPN Fantasy Focus program on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV, weekly ESPN Radio program, daily and weekly ESPN podcasts, an August Fantasy Football draft special, a 152-page ESPN Fantasy Football 2007 guide and more.
“The explosive growth of fantasy football is a phenomenon we expect will continue in the coming years,” said Raphael Poplock, vice president, games, ESPN Digital Media. “As more fans discover the competition and camaraderie that fantasy games engender, ESPN is poised to deliver the best games and the most comprehensive expert insight and analysis to help them compete.”
Fans will again find the most useful and comprehensive information, analysis and insights in the industry. With the acquisition of the award-winning fantasy sports site Talented Mr. Roto, ESPN has assembled an unmatched roster of writers, analysts and media personalities. Led by Matthew Berry (a.k.a. “The Talented Mr. Roto”), a four-time Fantasy Sports Writers of America (FSWA) award-winner, the lineup of experts features the last two FSWA Fantasy Football Writers of the Year – Eric Karabell and Scott Engel – as well as FSWA award-winners Tristan Cockcroft, Pete Becker and Christopher Harris, and ESPN.com’s Nate Ravitz, along with the team of experts at ESPN Scouts Inc.
Fans will also find football news and insights from ESPN.com’s leading pro football Insiders, including Jeremy Green, John Clayton, Len Pasquarelli, Jeff Chadiha, Michael Smith and ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
ESPN FANTASY FOOTBALL
New and returning game features available for free to all players include:
- Live Scoring with FantasyCast – live player-by-player scoring and results, live updating box scores, and a comparison to the players on the opposing roster – free to all players.
- Mock Draft Lobby – the ESPN Mock Draft Lobby lets players drop in at any time to run through a draft, try out a new draft strategy or just see who and how other ESPN players are drafting.
- Live Draft Lobby – the ESPN Live Draft lobby allows players to find and join a league and hold a draft, anytime day or night.
- Fantasy Focus – The only originally produced daily video program, exclusively on ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile TV and available as a video podcast via the ESPN.com Podcenter and Apple’s iTunes Store.
- Mobile Alerts – players can keep up with their team while away, with the ability to get breaking news, scoring, injury and substitution alerts sent directly to your wireless device (all carriers).
- Draft Pick Trading – players have
- New Homepage and streamlined league pages
- Fantasy 101 -- interactive tutorial site to help new users get a better understanding of Fantasy Football and get them up to speed on the upcoming season.
- Player Cards 2.0 – embedded player information cards allow players to see weekly projections, recent news, and game-by-game stats without leaving the page
. - Keeper Options – ESPN provides League Managers of existing keeper leagues the ability to transfer keeper settings by entering keepers prior to their draft.
- Multiple Draft Options – teams and leagues can draft in multiple ways, including Private drafts, Live Draft Lobby, Automated drafts and offline drafts.
- Customizable Rules and Scoring
- League Message Boards, Chat, Polls and Smack Cards – players can discuss news, talk trash, create their own polls and even chat online – all from right within their ESPN.com league.
Fans also can get the ESPN.com Fantasy Football Draft Kit (FREE to ESPN Insider subscribers and $9.95 for all other players). The Draft Kit features: sleepers, busts and top keepers; Top 250 players; position-by-position rankings; off-season changes and updated depth charts; projected stats; mock drafts and more.
MOBILE
Players will be able to get customized ESPN alerts across all major carriers, and will have exclusive ESPN.com team management via ESPN MVP on Verizon Wireless. Additionally, Fantasy Focus (same as on ESPN.com) is available daily on ESPN Mobile TV (via the MediaFlo platform), along with other fantasy football-related video content.
FANTASY FOOTBALL ON ESPN TV & RADIO
This season, ESPN will bring fans more fantasy football insights, information and analysis on its television and radio networks than ever before.
ESPNEWS Fantasy Insider: New this year, ESPN will produce an hour-long television program – ESPNEWS Fantasy Insider – each Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET on ESPNEWS. The program will break down all the latest fantasy sports news, tips, matchups, start’em and sit’em debates, strategies and more. Hosted by Merril Hoge and featuring Berry and ESPN’s Howie Schwab, the show will premiere Aug. 12.
SportsCenter Fantasy Draft Special: On August 21 at 6:30 p.m., ESPN will televise a 90-minute "SportsCenter Fantasy Draft Special." The program, hosted by ESPN’s Trey Wingo, will feature a mock fantasy football draft by a number of ESPN analysts and experts. Each participant will serve as a team owner, drafting players throughout, and subsequently subjecting themselves to the criticism, debate and analysis of their picks by the panel.
NFL Live, SportsCenter, First Take, Mike & Mike, ESPNEWS: ESPN’s signature news information and analysis programs will feature fantasy football content integration, with additional in-depth attention to fantasy football in late August.
ESPN Radio: Throughout the season, ESPN Radio will devote attention to fantasy football in its popular programs Mike and Mike In The Morning, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and The Sports Bash with John Seibel. In addition, Fantasy Focus, hosted by Karabell, airs every Sunday morning on ESPN Radio from 7 – 9 a.m. ET (a separate, Fantasy Focus podcast is available on www.espnradio.com – see below).
ESPN PODCASTS
ESPN Radio and the ESPN.com PodCenter will bring fans three original podcasts dedicated to fantasy football this season:
- ESPN Fantasy Football Focus Presented by Coca-Cola – daily – approx. 5 minutes
Hosted by ESPN Fantasy experts including Berry, Ravitz, and others, the podcast will provide player previews, game overviews, injury reports, and strategies. - EA Sports Fantasy Football Draft Special – Weekly throughout August - approx. 30 minutes
For the first time ever ESPN.com and ESPN Radio will produce a podcast dedicated to the most anticipated fantasy event of the year, the Draft. The weekly special edition podcast will be hosted by Karabell. - ESPN Three Point Stance with Jeremy Green – daily – approx. 15 minutes
Jeremy Green of Scouts Inc. discusses all things football in a daily podcast.
2006 ESPN FANTASY FOOTBALL GUIDE & ESPN THE MAGAZINE
ESPN Fantasy Football 2007 - the third-annual stand-alone fantasy football publication from ESPN, hit newsstands June 18th. Last year, its first on the newsstands, the guide was the top-selling fantasy football magazine. This year’s edition will again follow the ESPN tradition of delivering expert analysis and insider information from ESPN’s fantasy experts, television personalities and writers from ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. The 168-page stand-alone sells for $7.99.
ESPN The Magazine Fantasy Football Preview - July 30 issue – On sale July 19 – The July 30 issue of ESPN The Magazine will be its Fantasy Football Preview issue. The issue will include The Sports Guy’s Ultimate Fantasy Football Rule Book as well as everything that fantasy draftniks need to know about who to pick and when. Contributors include ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com writers, ESPN personalities and Scouts Inc.
-30-