NASCAR has announced it has officially signed a deal with
Prodigy to make the online service an "Officially Licensed
Internet Service Provider." Under the license, Prodigy will
distribute 2 million software disks at '96 races offering NASCAR
fans 20 free hours online. Through Prodigy, race fans will have
a direct line to NASCAR Online, the circuit's official Web site,
as well as Prodigy's Auto Racing "Interest Group" (NASCAR).
Prodigy also sponsors Dave Marcis' No. 71 Winston Cup team (THE
DAILY).
OTHER NASCAR NEWS: NASCAR Online (http://www.nascar. com)
registered its first one million hit day on March 31. That day
included 21,959 users for a total of 1,080,042 qualified hits.
Overall, NASCAR Online averages 17,000 users a day (NASCAR
Online).
OTHER PRODIGY NEWS: Prodigy will launch its own for-pay
fantasy baseball service on the Web -- Baseball Manager. Because
of the late start (April 26), Prodigy will only offer 132 games,
instead of a full season. Prices are $99.95 for Prodigy members
and $149.95 for non-members. While other online services offer
similar games for much less, a Prodigy spokesperson stressed that
their program "will offer personalized graphical screens that
differ heavily from their statistics-oriented rotisserie
brethren" (Robert Silverman, INSIDE MEDIA, 4/17 issue).
RAIDERS CYBER-DRAFT: In a "coming out party" for the
Raiders five-month-old Web site, the team is hosting the '96
Miller Genuine Draft/Oakland Raiders "Virtual Draft Day Party"
online from 11am-3pm PST this Saturday. Miller is sponsoring a
"live cybercast," where fans can chat with current and former
Raider players and Raiderettes. The club is also teaming with
Southwest Airlines and the Alameda Newspaper Group (the Oakland
Tribune) in a "Cyberscout" contest, where the person who predicts
the NFL Draft's first round most accurately wins a trip to
Raiders' training camp in Napa. Telecom company IDT is also
lending support. The address: http://www.raidersnet.com
(Raiders). Brian Buel, President of Baby Mogul Interactive,
which developed and markets the Raiders site, told THE DAILY that
"high-exposure" activities like the Raiders Virtual Draft Day
represent a "new model," because sponsors are "much more willing
to get involved" in promotional events, as opposed to ordinary
Web page banner ads. Baby Mogul can be found at
http://www.serve.net/babymogul (THE DAILY).
