ESPN.com & Student Advantage's FANSonly Network Team Up To Provide Exclusive College Sports Coverage
Sept. 12, 2000
BRISTOL, Conn. and CARLSBAD, Calif. — ESPN.com, the leading sports Web site, and Student Advantage’s FANSonly Network, the Internet’s largest college sports network, are extending their relationship to create the most comprehensive college sports offerings on the Web, including live radio game broadcasts of more than 50 college football teams, including Miami, Notre Dame and Florida State, official live statistics, and play-by-play tracking.
“Fans look to ESPN.com for the most comprehensive college football coverage on the Web, and our relationship with FANSonly re-affirms our commitment to college football,” said John Marvel, vice president and executive editor, ESPN.com. “Combining game audio with live stats and play-by-play tracking provides for the most immersive experience on the Web.”
“The combination of FANSonly and ESPN.com brings together a powerful team on behalf of our network partners,” said Jeff Cravens, vice president and general manager, FANSonly Network. “We are focused on driving traffic and generating revenue for our partners and we expect this deal will accomplish both of those initiatives. There is not a better company to associate with than ESPN.com, which is the worldwide leader in online sports. Our content will help fill out the ESPN.com college sports area while driving traffic to our sites from the world’s best and largest sports site.”
The ESPN.com-FANSonly relationship will result in:
Players’ and coaches’ diaries and columns, press conferences, and other weekly programmingAn enhanced College Sports section on ESPN.com with exclusive content provided by FANSonly and its member schools.Touchdown Club – weekly chats from top performers at FANSonly-member schoolsWeekly chats from top performers at FANSonly-member schoolsLive and archived audio programming and highlightsExclusive recruiting columns, high school stats and analysis from noted recruiting expert Bill HodgeRivalry Week – event coverage, message boards, diaries and chats during Rivalry Week, when schools such as Florida-Florida State and USC-UCLA take the field.
ESPN.com, the leading sports Web site, is part of the Walt Disney Internet Group (NYSE:DIG). WDIG manages some of the Internet’s most popular Web sites, including ABC.com, ABCNEWS.com, ABCSports.com, Disney.com, Disneystore.com, DisneyTravel.com, ESPN.com, Family.com, GO.com, Movies.com, Mr. Showbiz, NASCAR Online, NBA.com, NFL.com and Soccernet. The Internet Group also includes The Walt Disney Company’s direct marketing business. Steve Bornstein is chairman of Walt Disney Internet Group, which isheadquartered in North Hollywood, Calif., with operations in Sunnyvale, Calif., Seattle, New York, Bristol, Conn., and London. For more information, visit our web site at www.dig.com (http://www.dig.com).
FANSonlyTM Network
Student Advantage’s FANSonly Network is the most popular college sports destination on the Internet. For every month in 1999, FANSonly was the number one collegiate sports Web site, according to Media Metrix. The FANSonly Network provides online brand management and content delivery to university athletic departments through the publishing of Official Athletic Sites. FANSonly.com serves as the network hub, providing comprehensive information on collegiate sports, including in-depth statistical packages and analysis, information on collegiate recruiting, and team pages for every NCAA Division I school.
