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Yahoo! kicks off Fantasy Football Season

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Yahoo! Inc. kicks off the fantasy football season with new game features, mobile access, and Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Braylon Edwards as Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football ‘08 cover athlete. This year’s game gives fans new tools, including a new draft application with extensive player data and more personalization options. Fans will also have better access via Yahoo! Mobile, including the ability to manage their teams, receive player news and injury information, and make roster changes.

Fantasy football allows users to build a roster of professional football players, through drafts, trades and free-agent signings, and then watch as the team’s success is measured by the on-field statistics of the players. Yahoo! Sports has offered fantasy football for 11 seasons, and fans can register for this year’s game through October 17, 2008.

Fantasy football users can also get all the advice they need right before kick off from Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football Live, the original pre-game fantasy football webshow entering its third season.

Originally posted on August 7, 2008 @ 2:00 pm

AOL Latino launches sports blog Fanaticos.com

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AOL Latino kicks off its coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing with the launch of Fanaticos.com, a sports blog destination written by a team of seasoned sports writers from Mexico, Argentina and the U.S. The site focuses on soccer, baseball and boxing teams from the US, Mexico, Latin America and Spain, and will include coverage throughout the duration of the games. Fanáticos.com is supported by AOL’s digital advertising business, Platform-A, which will continue to offer relevant advertising opportunities in both display advertising as well as content-targeted links on the web site.

Originally posted on August 7, 2008 @ 9:20 am

CCTV.com, Adobe ink deal to bring 2008 Olympics to online viewers in China

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Adobe Systems Incorporated has formed a strategic relationship with CCTV International Networks Co., Ltd. to deliver the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games’ coverage through the web. The coverage will be delivered to millions of sports fans in mainland China and Macau through the “Olympic Network TV Station,” CCTV.com’s next-generation online experience based on Adobe Flash and Flex technology. CCTV.com owns the online video rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for mainland China and Macau. With thousands of hours of competition video available on CCTVOlympics.com, the Olympic Network TV Station will allow sports fans to view the Olympic sports, athletes and country teams of their choice.

The Olympic Network TV Station will deliver viewers with:

– A web experience created with Adobe Flex and delivered via Adobe Flash technology, which includes Olympic results, statistics, comprehensive bios, rules and expert analysis from CCTV’s Olympic media team, as well as social networking features that will enable fans to share aspects of their Olympic experience with friends.

– 5,000 hours of on-demand protected streamed video content (3,800 hours of worldwide broadcast Olympic Games video and 1,200 hours of CCTV’s own video) including full event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages.

Originally posted on August 4, 2008 @ 9:34 am

Weplay raises $8.6 million from Deep Fork Capital, Derek Jeter, LeBron James, Peyton Manning

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Online youth sports community Weplay announced the closing of $8.6 million in Series B funding led by Deep Fork Capital with participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital, Derek Jeter, LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and senior executives.

The funding will accelerate the company’s momentum as the fastest-growing online youth sports destination.
 
“We’re thrilled to have Deep Fork Capital join our existing partners Creative Artists Agency, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, FirstMark Capital and our founding athletes. The world of youth sport is currently held together  by email, clip boards and  telephone calls.   As the parent of a youth athlete, I want to make that experience simpler, safer and more fun for the millions of  parents, kids and coaches playing sports everywhere,” said Steve Hansen, CEO of Weplay. 

Originally posted on August 5, 2008 @ 7:12 pm

Pop Warner names Weplay as official social networking platform provider

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Online sports community Weplay announced a three-year partnership today with Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. Under the agreement, Weplay will become the official social network service provider and partner of Pop Warner.

As a part of the partnership, Weplay will provide a social utility platform that will allow any Pop Warner player, cheerleader, parent or coach the ability to create a unique profile, connect with each other, share pictures and videos, create blogs and more. Coaches, parents and administrators can also create groups for teams and squads to facilitate communication, share media, and enhance the relationships they make on the fields.

Originally posted on July 16, 2008 @ 12:49 pm