While sports Web sites are "investing heavily in
fantasy games," today's player associations realize that
their ability to grant licensing rights gives them "the
power to decide who can and can't run" a sports-specific
fantasy league, according to USA TODAY's Chris Jenkins.
Jenkins notes the NFLPA's lawsuits against
athletesdirect.com and bigpros.com and adds the association
has assigned an employee to find more unlicensed games on
the Web. But Brady Tinker, host of a fantasy sports show on
FSN, said, "I look for the [PA's] to turn a corner very soon
with all of the people who are in the industry and be a
little more open-minded." Jenkins notes that CBS SportsLine
"nabbed a spot on the public-enemy list by announcing that
all of its fantasy football products would be free this
year. It is regarded as a serious blow to any site that
charges for similar services" (USA TODAY, 7/25).
QUOKKA: Quokka Sports will be the official provider of
Internet coverage for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001-2002 and
2005-2006 (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 7/25). USA TODAY's Chris
Jenkins writes with its buyout of Total Sports, Quokka's
"transformation from alternative sports portal to mainstream
sports site hits high gear." Quokka CEO Alan Ramadan:
"We'll be competing for (sports fans') hearts and minds"
(USA TODAY, 7/25)....In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers reports that
NBC, which had two full-time staffers for its Web site at
the '96 Olympics, will have 40 full-time staffers and 100
part-timers in Sydney and 150 in S.F. for NBCOlympics.com
during the 2000 Games. The site, a venture between NBC and
Quokka, will also have 50 Olympians contributing to the
site. NBC Sports VP/Business Development Kevin Monaghan,
noting the immediacy of the Web coverage compared to NBC's
tape-delay coverage of the Games: "We understand that, in a
way, we're scooping ourselves, but that's the reality of
today's world" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/25).
