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Property will serve as year-round destination for college sports fans and provide coverage for all 88 NCAA® championships, including live video of more than 60 championships 

For Immediate Release

Monday, December 20, 2010

Contact(s)

Tareia Williams
Turner Sports
404/575-9710
tareia.williams@turner.com

Gail Dent
NCAA
317/917-6117
gdent@ncaa.org

INDIANAPOLIS---Turner Sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced today the relaunch of NCAA.com, the premier destination for college sports news, information and video.  The relaunched site, managed by Turner, will offer a cutting-edge design and layout and one-click access to every NCAA sport across all three divisions.  The new NCAA.com will provide fans comprehensive editorial coverage of all men’s and women’s NCAA sports during the regular season and championships, with school-specific content for more than 1,000 NCAA institutions.  Exclusive live video streaming will be featured on the site from more than 60 NCAA championships as well as video highlights from all 88 championships.  The site, while still providing schedules, scores and stats, will have a greater focus on feature content for the more than 430,000 NCAA student-athletes participating each year. In addition, Turner will upgrade NCAA.com with powerful technology and a new video player experience for live video streaming, additional interactive features and multiple touch points for social media to transition the site into a college sports destination throughout the year.

The first major championship the new site will feature is the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on Jan. 7, 2011. Online coverage of this event will include video highlights, editorial features, behind the scenes interviews, reports and stats from the championship in Frisco, Texas.

Additional features of the new NCAA.com include:

• Live Video and Highlights: Fans will be able to experience intense action from more than 60 championships by watching live video content on NCAA.com and video highlights from all 88 NCAA championships.
• Original content focused on student-athletes: The site will include weekly pieces that focus on the student-athletes off the field; video interviews with coaches, administrators and student-athletes; features on school spirit; in-depth analysis of the top must-see matchups from each of the fall, winter and spring sports across all three divisions and much more.
• Facebook and Twitter: The site will offer social media functionality from Facebook and Twitter, including a collection of the best tweets of the week from student-athletes, coaches and fans and uploaded content from Facebook pages.
• Online merchandise, photo store and tickets: Fans can purchase their officially licensed team and championship merchandise from the official NCAA online store (NCAA.com/store ).  NCAA championship photos and DVDs will be available for purchase via the site immediately following championship games.  Fans will also be able to go online to purchase tickets for NCAA championships.

“We look forward to leveraging our experiences in managing some of the most popular sports sites on the Internet toward growing NCAA.com into the top digital college sports destination,”  said Matthew Hong, senior vice president & general manager, sports operations at Turner Sports. “With a deeper commitment to college sports throughout the year, enhanced editorial and multi-media content, and a cutting-edge user experience, we are excited to provide a truly exceptional online experience for fans on NCAA.com.” 

To see screenshots of the new NCAA.com, please click the link below:

http://www.ncaa.com/PR/redesign2010

“Our partnership with Turner Sports and the relaunch of NCAA.com enables the NCAA to feature the tremendous stories of the student-athletes competing in collegiate athletics on a robust, digital platform that reaches a mass audience,” said Greg Shaheen, interim executive vice president of championship and alliances at the NCAA. “NCAA.com will be synonymous with college sports and will be the destination where millions of college sports fans will go for the most comprehensive and in-depth coverage of 88 NCAA championships.”

The new NCAA.com falls under the 14-year agreement between Turner and the NCAA for the formation of NCAA Digital which encompasses NCAA.com and additional NCAA digital platforms including mobile web and applications, as well as other connected devices. Turner also will manage ad sales for NCAA digital platforms. 

In addition, as part of the 14-year multimedia agreement between Turner, CBS and the NCAA, Turner will assume operational oversight of NCAA March Madness® on Demand (MMOD) on broadband, as well as March Madness mobile assets. Turner and CBS will jointly share sponsorship sales responsibilities for MMOD and its mobile assets.

The relaunch of NCAA.com does not include NCAA.org, the Association’s public and administrative websites, or any aspects of the NCAA’s digital archival video rights. Turner Sports currently manages an impressive portfolio of digital assets including official league sites NASCAR.COM, PGATOUR.COM and PGA.com, and jointly manages NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLEAGUE.com, and WNBA.com. Additionally, Turner Sports oversees the operation of SI.com and GOLF.com, and provides content to and exclusively sells the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR, NBA, golf and MLB sections.

About the NCAA

The NCAA^® is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 430,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA Championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit NCAA.org and NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions — AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola — and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners — Enterprise, The Hartford, Hershey’s, LG, Lowe’s, Planters, State Farm and UPS.

*NCAA and March Madness are trademarks owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

About Turner Sports

Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., presents some of the best and most popular sporting events worldwide and is a leader in televised and online sports programming. With events airing on TBS, TNT and truTV, Turner Sports’ line-up includes NASCAR and NASCAR.COM, the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament and NCAA.com, SI.com, professional golf, PGATOUR.COM, PGA.com, and GOLF.com. Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLeague.com and WNBA.com.