March Madness "has crossed over into cyberspace,"
according to Larry Tye in a front-page story in today's
BOSTON GLOBE. Yesterday, nearly one million fans an hour
logged onto the NCAA's World Wide Web site at www.ncaa.org.
Another million logged onto CBS.sportsline.com. CBS
SportsLine VP Ross Levinsohn: "We set a record at 1 p.m.
[yesterday] for total usage. It doubled our highest day in
our history, which was Monday." Although Tye notes that
some people could be logging on for betting tips, Levinsohn
said, "We used to run betting information but we no longer
do it, with the tournament" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/14). ESPNET
SportsZone set a traffic record yesterday, registering
738,453 visits and topping records set Sunday and again on
Monday of 634,000 visits. Wednesday's total page views of
4,915,117 was also a record. The ESPNET Tournament
Challenge registered 175,230 entrants in all, topping last
year's approximate 105,000 entrants. More than 109,000
picked Kansas to win it all (THE DAILY).
CATCH NCAA ACTION IN CYBERSPACE: In a partnership with
Host Communications, NC-based Koz Inc. will broadcast audio
and video of every NCAA Men's tournament game live on
NCAA.org, according to David Strow of the TRIANGLE BUSINESS
JOURNAL. Host produces the NCAA's programs. Koz Inc.
founder Frank Daniels III formed Koz ten months ago and is
now spinning off an independent company, Koz Sports, to
handle the NCAA event. Koz Sports will be headquartered in
Raleigh, NC, and currently has 26 employees (TRIANGLE
BUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/10 issue).
