SportsLine.com Expands Its Internet-Leading Suite of Free Fantasy Football Products; Adds a New Suite of Premium Fantasy Games and Contests
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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA (August 29, 2001) -- SportsLine.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLN), the leading global Internet sports media company and publisher of CBS SportsLine.com (http://cbs.sportsline.com), is expanding its offering of free fantasy football products - already the largest suite of free fantasy football products available on the Internet - maintaining its leadership position in the online fantasy sports business. Additionally, a new suite of premium fantasy products has been added, including enhanced versions of select games featuring added user benefits; and new games and contests of various skill levels which feature cash and merchandise prizes.
The popular Fantasy Football 2001, Football Commissioner, Football Challenge, Office Pool Manager, and Office Pool Challenge, which this year features a guaranteed $1 million grand prize, highlight this year's offerings. Located at http://fantasy.sportsline.com, SportsLine.com's fantasy products and games are geared toward users of all levels, from the novice and casual fan to the hard-core fantasy player.
"SportsLine.com's fantasy products have long been recognized as the best in the business for flexibility and content," said Peter Pezaris, president, product development for SportsLine.com, Inc. "We continue to expose a whole new audience to our fantasy products through both our expanded free offerings and our new premium suite of games and contests, which are designed to give users of all skill levels the opportunity to win cash and merchandise prizes. For the Company, the premium products provide added depth to our multiple revenue stream model."
"There are a number of significant sponsorship and direct marketing opportunities created by our fantasy products, given our extremely loyal, targeted database of several million sports fans," said Mark Mariani, president of sales and marketing for SportsLine.com. "Fantasy players represent a very attractive demographic profile and spend more time online than the typical user."
New and powerful features have been added to the entire SportsLine.com suite of fantasy products, which include:
Football Commissioner - SportsLine Commissioner is the premier league management and stats service. Every owner in the league receives a content-rich, statistic-supported, personalized and customizable Web site, along with live scoring, wireless reports and customized rules and scoring. This year there are two premium editions of the game - Commissioner Gold and Platinum - available for between $99.95 and $199.95 per league, featuring everything from draft kits and league championship trophies to toll-free customer support, depending on the product.
Fantasy Football 2001 - Owners join existing 12-team leagues, or create new leagues, and select players by live draft or let an automated draft pick for them. SportsLine.com makes the rules and acts as the league's commissioner, while players receive exclusive features such as live scoring and wireless reports and alerts. Players compete for cash and league prizes. Gold & Platinum editions of the game, featuring larger cash prizes and other exciting benefits are available for between $29.95 and $99.95 per person.
Football Office Pool Manager - SportsLine.com gives users the easiest way to run a football office pool on-line, and it's free. Participants submit their picks on a private, customizable web site, with the Office Pool Manager calculating the results and standings.
Fantasy Survivor - Users start off by picking a squad of eight pro football players. Each week, for eight weeks, participants eliminate one of their players. The top scorer after week eight wins $5,000.
King of the Hill - Starting with week one, each game will be assigned a "winning margin" by which one team is expected to beat its opponent. Factoring in the winning margin, users choose one pro football team each week that will score more points than its opponent. If wrong, the user is eliminated. Each correct participant picks again the next week. There's only one catch-a user can only choose a team once during the season. The last remaining player is King of the Hill and wins $5,000.
Football Challenge 2001 - In the SportsLine.com Football Challenge there are no leagues. Team owners select a roster of players based on a "salary cap" of $30,000,000, without regard to other owners. Owners can make weekly adjustments, but must stay under the cap. Each participant receives a customizable Web site and can track his/her team's progress with live scoring on game day, with updated standings and statistics each week. Prizes are given every week through week 17 of the pro football season.
Office Pool Challenge - One knowledgeable and lucky fan is going to win $1 million in the Office Pool Challenge, a skill-based competition based on the results of regular season professional football games. Each game will be assigned a "winning margin" by which one team is expected to beat its opponent. Users must predict which team will score the most points in each game, factoring in the winning margin. Anyone who picks all the pro football games correctly for a particular week will be entered into a random drawing for the $1 million grand prize, which will be chosen following the final regular season pro football game. Users pay $17, just $1 per week, for season-long access to statistics and expert analysis and can make their picks on-line for the entire season. For an additional $10, users will earn 1,000 points redeemable in the SportsLine Rewards program and can double their chance of winning with a second online entry.
SportsLine.com, which publishes NFL.com and is the primary sports content producer for America Online, also produces the official fantasy football games for NFL.com and AOL. In addition, SportsLine.com exclusively produces the official fantasy games for Major League Baseball's official Web site and an official fantasy game for NBA.com.
About SportsLine.com, Inc.
SportsLine.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLN) is at the leading edge of media companies providing Internet sports content, community and e-commerce on a global basis. SportsLine.com, Inc.'s content includes more than one million pages of multimedia sports information, entertainment and merchandise. The Company's flagship Internet sports service (http://cbs.sportsline.com) was renamed CBS SportsLine.com as part of an exclusive promotional and content agreement with CBS in March 1997. SportsLine.com, Inc. publishes the official Web sites of the NFL and the PGA TOUR and has strategic relationships with Major League Baseball and the NBA, and serves as the primary sports content provider for America Online and Netscape. In 1999, the Company commenced operations in Europe through Sports.com Limited.
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