2008 Fantasy Football Season Kicks Off on ESPN

Free Fantasy Football Returns; Free Live Scoring, New Auction Draft Option,
Mobile Alerts and Management; Emmy-Winning Live Online Sunday Show Fantasy Football Now; Unprecedented Multimedia Initiative: TV, Radio, Digital Video, Podcasts, Magazine

July 21, 2008 -- ESPN kicks off the 2008 Fantasy Football season with an unprecedented multimedia initiative, highlighted by the return of free ESPN Fantasy Football presented by GEICO and GMC on ESPN.com.

The enhanced game features a broad lineup of free features including live scoring, multiple draft options (including a new Auction-style draft), mobile alerts and team management, fully customizable rules and scoring, and the broadest collection of expert analysis, news and statistical information available. Fantasy football players can begin drafting (and mock-drafting) on ESPN.com now and will be served by integration across ESPN’s many media platforms.

“Fantasy football has become a new kind of national pastime,” said Raphael Poplock, vice president, games, ESPN. “It was one of the truly early social networks, and has evolved into a mainstream game. In the past two years, we’ve seen ESPN Fantasy Football grow nearly 87 percent, and we expect it to continue to grow as new generations of sports fans and gamers discover fantasy sports.”

Across ESPN media, fans will also find a complete lineup of news, information, analysis and entertainment, including the return of the Emmy Award-winning Fantasy Football Now – a live Sunday interactive program on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN’s Erik Kuselias and ESPN Fantasy guru Matthew Berry will host, with a collection of contributors each week. ESPN’s digital media platforms will also feature the daily Fantasy Focus video program.

On TV, ESPN will feature (more detail below):

* 3rd annual SportsCenter Fantasy Football Draft Special in August;
* Regular segments on Sunday NFL Countdown, SportsCenter ESPNEWS, NFL Live and First Take.

ESPN Radio will again feature (more detail below):

* A weekly, Sunday fantasy sports program;
* Daily and weekly ESPN podcasts;
* Segments on ESPN radio programs including Mike & Mike in the Morning, The Herd, Tirico & Van Pelt, and more.

The 152-page 2008 ESPN Fantasy Football guide is currently on stands, and features free online updates throughout the preseason.

On ESPN.com, players will again find the most useful and comprehensive information, analysis and insights in the industry. ESPN has assembled an unmatched roster of writers, analysts and media personalities, led by Berry (a.k.a. “The Talented Mr. Roto”), a four-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) award-winner, multiple FSWA award-winners Eric Karabell and Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN.com’s sports injury expert Stephania Bell, and award-winning analysts Pete Becker, Christopher Harris and 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 Hall of Famers John Clayton and Len Pasquarelli, Jeremy Green, Jeff Chadiha, Michael Smith and ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

ESPN FANTASY FOOTBALL

ESPN Fantasy Football presented by GEICO and GMC returns with all of the free features from last season, plus added features. Game features include:

* Free Live Scoring – free live player-by-player scoring, live updating box scores and results via ESPN.com’s FantasyCast, which also integrates Gamecast, live chat with ESPN experts and a comparison to the players on the opposing roster – free to all players.
* Fantasy Football Now – the Emmy Award-winning Sunday live program will expand to 90 minutes this season – starting every Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET and going right up to kickoff. On both ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV, fans online will be able to watch, chat live, get injury updates and submit questions – all from the new interactive Fantasy Football Now page.
* 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.
* Multiple Draft Options – teams and leagues can draft in multiple ways, including
o Online Auction Draft: New this season, ESPN.com gives fans the option to conduct their draft auction style – bidding against other competitors for top players, and managing a total budget for drafting their team of players.
o Live Online Draft – Live online drafts can be public or private. Set a time and invite friends, or drop by the ESPN Live Draft lobby to find a league, join, and draft -- anytime day or night.
o Automated Online Drafts – Have your league set their personal player rankings, set the draft order and date, and let ESPN.com’s draft engine do the rest.
o Offline Draft – Get together with friends. Make a night (or weekend) of it, and then just upload the results into ESPN.com.
* Fantasy Football Draft Kit – ESPN.com’s free Fantasy Football Draft Kit will give every player complete breakdowns of sleepers, busts and top keepers; Top 250 players; position-by-position rankings; off-season changes and updated depth charts; projected stats; expert mock drafts and more.
* Fantasy 101 – ESPN.com’s interactive tutorial site, hosted by NFL Live’s Trey Wingo, to help new users get a better understanding of Fantasy Football strategies and game play, and get them up to speed on the upcoming season.
* Fantasy Focus – The 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.
* Smack Boards – Talk smack to your friends and opponents throughout the week and on game day using the dynamic chat windows integrated right into league and scoring pages.
* Draft Pick Trading – players have the option to trade draft picks in leagues with a fixed draft order.
* Player Cards 2.0 – embedded player information cards allow players to see weekly projections, recent news, game-by-game stats and more without leaving their own roster.
* Keeper Options – ESPN provides League Managers of existing keeper leagues the ability to transfer keeper settings by entering keepers prior to their draft.
* Customizable Rules and Scoring – players can set up their league and scoring as they want…and can even include punters, if they want.
* 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.

MOBILE

* Mobile Team Management – players with the ESPN MVP on Verizon Wireless phones, you’ll be able to set rosters, trade and waive players, and check scoring – all from your phone.
* Mobile Scores and Alerts (all mobile carriers) – players can keep up with their team while away, with the ability to see their team, scores and latest news on their mobile device, or have breaking news, scoring, injury and substitution alerts sent directly to you on the go (all carriers).
* Fantasy Focus – ESPN’s daily Original Digital series is available daily on ESPN Mobile TV, 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.

SportsCenter Fantasy Draft Special: On August 14 at 6:30 p.m., ESPN will televise it’s third annual 90-minute "SportsCenter Fantasy Draft Special." The program, hosted by ESPN’s Kuselias, 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 night on ESPN Radio from 9 – 10 p.m ET.

ESPN PODCASTS

ESPN Radio and the ESPN.com PodCenter will bring fans three original podcasts dedicated to fantasy football this season:

* ESPN Fantasy Focus Football – daily – approx. 30 minutes
Hosted by Berry and Ravitz, and featuring a host of guests and interviews, the podcast will provide player previews, game overviews, injury reports, and strategies.
* EA Sports Fantasy Football Draft Special – Weekly throughout August - approx. 20 minutes
For the second year in a row, 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 Football Today with Jeremy Green – daily – approx. 15 minutes
Jeremy Green of Scouts Inc. discusses all things football in a daily podcast.

2008 ESPN FANTASY FOOTBALL GUIDE & ESPN THE MAGAZINE

2008 ESPN Fantasy Football Guide - the fourth-annual stand-alone fantasy football publication from ESPN, hit newsstands in June. The 152-page guide delivers expert analysis and insider information from ESPN’s fantasy experts, television personalities and writers from ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. The guide, one of the top selling guides since its launch, features more than 600 scouting reports, top sleepers and busts, draft strategies and a tear-out draft cheat sheet, and like last season, includes free online updates throughout the preseason on ESPN.com. It sells for $7.99.

ESPN The Magazine Fantasy Football Preview - July 28 issue - On sale July 16 - The July 28 issue of ESPN The Magazine will be its Fantasy Football Preview Issue. The issue includes The Mag's position-by-position preview, revealing all the little things true experts do to gain an edge. It also includes an NFL player mock draft where five NFL players take on five of ESPN's fantasy experts in the ultimate mock draft showdown. Contributors include ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com writers, ESPN personalities and Scouts Inc.

Source: ESPN

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