With the NCAA men's basketball tournament pairings now
set, Web sites such as Sandbox.com and SportsLine.com are
offering tournament pools with chances to win "everything
from" $10M in cash to Caribbean cruises to cars, according
to Scott Newman of BLOOMBERG NEWS, who wrote that "at least"
three million people will participate in online pools this
year. But the lure of prizes by these Web sites is not
"popular" with NCAA officials, who "fear that the pools are
too much like gambling," and are "looking for ways to stem
their growth." NCAA Dir of PR Wally Renfro: "We're adamant
about doing anything we can to get these things as far away
as possible from any appearance of gambling." The NCAA has
taken some action, as it "stopped" ESPN.com from giving away
two Final Four tickets for life to its pool winner and made
CBS SportsLine.com give away its top prizes of cars and a
truck in a random drawing "rather than a more marketable
pick-the-winner format." But the NCAA "had leverage with
them," as both sites are owned by companies that "compete"
for the NCAA's basketball and football TV rights. The
NCAA's "problem is that it doesn't have that kind of clout
with other people operating online tournament pools."
Renfro: "It's infuriating. But unless they use the NCAA
logo or our marks, all we can do is throw our hands up."
Meanwhile, the NCAA's "vigilant pursuit" of the sites it
does business with has ESPN and CBS SportsLine execs
"complaining that it created an unfair playing field for
online pools" (BLOOMBERG, 3/11). CNNSI.com and
Foxsports.com are also offering a $10M prize for the
"perfect bracket." CBS SportsLine President of Sales &
Marketing Mark Mariani: "The odds of hitting that are a
zillion to one. There's no chance of hitting that" (USA
TODAY, 3/13). Both ESPN.com and Yahoo.com are offering
women's tournament brackets as well (K.C. STAR, 3/13). In
Philadelphia, Bob Ford writes that an "estimated" $750M is
wagered each year on the NCAA tournament, which includes
"semi-legal office pools" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/13).
SPONSORS STILL PONY UP: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's
Noah Liberman writes that sponsors who advertise around the
NCAA tournament on Web sites "now want programs that
generate customer activity in addition to the usual
branding." ESPN.com is partnering with Courtyard by
Marriott to offer a travel guide section linked to the
site's Tournament Challenge pool. Fans "can use the section
to research and book rooms in Courtyard hotels near
tournament sites." Official NCAA sponsors Continental
Airlines and American Express "have teamed for a promotion"
on Total Sports' FinalFour.net, while Intel, which is a new
sponsor on CNNSI.com, is presenting the site's tournament
pool (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/13 issue).
