| | For Immediate Release
ESPN Internet Ventures (EIV) and NHL Interactive CyberEnterprises (NHL ICE) announced today a multi-faceted agreement that calls for EIV to produce and develop a co-branded NHL Gamecast application and the League's first Official NHL Fantasy Game, as well as include NHL video highlights on ESPN.com. These features will be available to Internet users through the ESPN.com and NHL.com homepages before the end of the current NHL season and will extend though the end of the 2000-01 NHL season.
As part of the agreement, EIV will have preferred use of statistical data generated from the NHL Real Time Scoring System to create and produce NHL Gamecast, which will feature "real-time" textual, graphical, and statistical depictions of all NHL games. The NHL Real Time Scoring System, developed by the League and IBM over the last two years, provides the most current in-progress NHL game statistics available anywhere on the Internet and incorporates the widest selection of statistical categories.
The Official NHL Fantasy Game, which will also make use of up-to-the-minute data from the NHL Real Time Scoring System, is expected to be available in two versions: a basic game available to fans free of charge, and a more sophisticated game that is fee-based.
The marketing relationship and applications will be supported by a significant level of cross-promotion, both in the form of links and contextual windows on ESPN.com and NHL.com. . In addition, EIV will provide a significant amount of on-air promotional support for the applications and NHL.com on the various ESPN cable networks. Furthermore, as part of the ESPN Network, NHL.com will be included on the ESPN Network navigational bar located atop all main ESPN.com pages and on the pages of NHL.com.
"NHL ICE is extremely pleased to join forces with the leader in Internet sports programming and marketing," said Tom Richardson, general manager of NHL ICE. "This agreement gives us a chance to take full advantage of the key assets developed by our partnership with IBM and the League's renewed broadcast partnership with ESPN. It will also help raise the profile of NHL.com and spur further growth this year and beyond."
"We are very excited about our new relationship with NHL ICE, and the addition of NHL.com to the ESPN Network," said Steve Zales, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Internet Ventures. "This opens the door to substantial editorial and promotional integration between ESPN.com and NHL.com. This agreement is consistent with our philosophy of providing our fans with the broadest sports entertainment offerings on the Internet, while solidifying ESPN Internet Ventures' position as the worldwide leader in online sports."
NHL.com, the official Web site of the National Hockey League, features live audio broadcasts of NHL games, the latest in League news and video highlights, plus an online store with more than 5,000 NHL-licensed items. NHL.com is one of 10 sites produced by NHL ICE, a joint venture between the NHL Enterprises, L.L.C. and IBM that is also charged with implementing the Real Time Scoring System, licensing video games for the PC platform, and exploring other interactive opportunities on behalf of the National Hockey League.
ESPN.com is produced by ESPN Internet Ventures, which also produces the official sites of the NFL, NBA, NASCAR and Outside Magazine. EIV also includes the official sites of Monday Night Football and the Bowl Championship Series. ESPN.com is part of GO Network. EIV is a joint venture between Buena Vista Internet Group and Infoseek.
NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams. All Rights Reserved.
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