The Collegiate Professional Basketball League and Broadcast.com will announce this week that they have reached an agreement under which the Dallas company will provide video and audio simulcasts of all the CPBL's televised games live on the Internet.
Through the three-year agreement, the CPBL is aiming to become the only sports league to have all of its televised games broadcast live online, said league executives. The inaugural season of the CPBL, the men's pro hoops league for players ages 17 to 22, is scheduled to begin in November 2000.
Under terms of the $1.8 million deal, Broadcast.com also will get naming rights to the nascent league's Detroit team. Headquartered in Lexington, Mass., the CPBL is looking to become the only U.S. pro league whose teams bear corporate or brand names. Lycos Inc. and Acunet.net already have agreements to sponsor CPBL teams. The league's "product category" sponsors include Adidas, Nike Inc., Basketball City and Grayson Mountain Water.
Last November, the eight-team league signed a time-buy agreement with the Pax TV network, purchasing programming time on its stations to air CPBL games. Matchups are slated to be televised weekly on Pax-owned stations in seven major markets.
"For a new sports property, one of the critical success factors is its ability to brand itself," said Paul McMann, the CPBL's founder and president. "We continue to look for relationships with properties that enhance our ability to brand [the league]. Broadcast.com helps us to an immense degree. With this deal, we now have worldwide Internet capabilities."
As part of the deal, Broadcast.com will control all ad sales tied to its CPBL Internet site. Furthermore, the company plans to provide online audio and video highlights of games as well live broadcasts of CPBL press conferences and league-related promotional appearances. It also will archive all Internet broadcasts of CPBL matchups.
Originally, the league's 28-game regular season was expected to tip off in November.
"We've been working on unique corporate partnership deals with companies like Broadcast.com, and once the foundation is in place, then building the league itself can begin," McMann said.
In addition to giving players a $5,000 signing bonus, a $9,000 annual stipend and room and board, the league plans to provide each of them up to eight years of guaranteed scholarship funds for college.
