ESPN Digital Media to Provide Full Court Coverage of the NBA on ESPN.com, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile and Social Media Platforms

NBA Digital and ESPN are bringing back the official commissioner-style fantasy basketball game for its second year.  Through this unique collaboration, players have access to the very best fantasy basketball content online and on mobile devices via ESPN.com and NBA.com, two of the leading NBA destinations on digital platforms.  Sign-ups for ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball 2011 are up nearly 30 percent compared to the same time period last year.

Fans will once again be able to create leagues and teams, schedule drafts, conduct mock drafts, check scores, set their lineups, manage their teams with the latest information on their players and more. New features for the 2011 version of the game include:

• FantasyCast – a tool that will allow players to follow their team live during games;
• App Store – players can download the app to manage their team on the go;
• Free Agency Auction Bidding – a new and more competitive option amongst team owners to bid for waiver wire players;
• Public Custom Leagues – create or join public leagues with customized league settings; and
• Player Watch Lists and Player Comparison – follow free agent players throughout the season.

ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball 2011 is available on NBA.com and ESPN.com and on ESPN and NBA mobile Web sites. Players can once again find the same great content they’ve come to expect, including integrated access to all the leading NBA Digital and ESPN Fantasy news, analysis and information including video, podcasts, columns, features and more; NBA TV and ESPN studio personalities competing in the game throughout the season; and mobile companions allowing team management through the ESPN and NBA mobile Web sites, as well as a downloadable Draft Kit mobile application developed by ESPN.

The NBA on ESPN

During Kia NBA Tip-Off ‘10, Kia Motors is hosting a variety of activities to celebrate the start of the 2010-11 NBA season, including a pair of two-hour television shows on ESPN. The first Countdown to Kia NBA Tip-Off special aired on Sunday, Oct. 17 with another episode scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 24 at 9:00 p.m ET.  Each Countdown to Kia NBA Tip-Off special includes an ESPN studio show and special original programming created with exclusive NBA content produced by NBA Entertainment.

The second special, on Oct. 24, features an hourlong preview of the upcoming 2010-11 season – an all-access pass to training camps around the league; a look at the long-awaited comebacks of Yao Ming, Blake Griffin and George Karl; plus other top storylines to watch out for in the upcoming year.

The 2010 NBA regular season, Playoffs, Draft and Free Agency period generated ESPN’s most successful year across digital platforms.  Full coverage online and on the go will return, allowing fans to follow the action of this year’s highly anticipated season.

ESPN.com

The NBA section on ESPN.com reached record traffic in the past year, peaking in July with 6.7 million unique visitors, up 81 percent from last July.  Visitors are also spending more time consuming NBA content than ever before, with total minutes to the section averaging 91 million minutes per month, up 62 percent, and average minutes per visitor per month at 18.1 minutes, up 20 percent.

This season, ESPN.com will continue its in-depth coverage of the NBA, including commentary from The Sports Guy and New York Times best-selling author of The Book of Basketball Bill Simmons and daily coverage from Henry Abbott and the TrueHoop Network, offering up-to-the-minute input from across the Web with immediacy, community, and a distinct style.  Other coverage includes:

• Daily Dime Live – events posted daily at 7 p.m. EST complete with live discussion and observations about teams, players and games from ESPN.com’s talented lineup of reporters, analysts, commentators, TrueHoop Network bloggers and fans from across the NBA universe;
• ESPN NBA GameCast – a completely re-engineered version of ESPN’s stat feed app pushes live game information direct from courtside.  The new GameCast will debut after the NBA All-Star break with advanced features and easy-to-read design;
• Heat Index – in-depth coverage of the NBA’s most talked about franchise this season. The Heat Index will provide 24/7 coverage of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the entire Heat team from ESPN.com NBA experts Brian Windhorst, Michael Wallace and Kevin Arnovitz;
• Local Coverage – ESPN.com’s local sites in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Dallas deliver coverage of the seven teams in those markets, while the TrueHoop Network includes 36 different blogs – one for every team and six general – to deliver deep and wide coverage of the NBA.
• Social Media – Daily Dime Live will be the online destination for fans to engage and interact in the sports conversation with each other and with ESPN.com NBA experts.  SportsNation will also include fan polls, blogs and user-generated player and team rankings.  Other social media tools include Conversation pages, the NBAonESPN Twitter feed and Facebook pages.

ESPN3.com

ESPN3.com will once again deliver live streaming of every NBA game on ESPN and ESPN2 this season.  ESPN’s 24/7 live broadband sports network saw triple digit percentage growth during the 2010 post-season, including the NBA Playoffs up 101 percent and the NBA Draft up 253 percent.  The October and November schedule for the 2011 season on ESPN3.com includes:

ESPN Mobile

Fans on the go were never far away from the NBA action last season.  Page views for the ESPN mobile Web site during the regular season were up 22 percent, while visits were up 140 percent.  Traffic during the post-season (June-July) also generated increases in page views (up 46 percent) and visits (up 124 percent).  Additionally, ESPN sent over 200 million alerts covering NBA game starts, scoring updates and news last season.

Beginning this month, every NBA game on ESPN and ESPN2 will also be carried live on ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN’s 24/7 mobile sports television network available on the FLO TV, MobiTV and Sprint TV platforms.

About ESPN and The NBA
ESPN’s comprehensive, multi-year agreement with the NBA includes wide-reaching multi-media coverage and content across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN International, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile, ESPN podcasts and additional media platforms still to be developed.  ESPN and ABC combine to televise 90 regular-season games, plus each round of the postseason – including The Finals exclusively on ABC.  ESPN Radio also offers season-long broadcasts including the regular season, postseason (including The Finals) and All-Star events.

About NBA Digital
NBA Digital is the NBA’s extensive cross-platform portfolio of digital assets jointly managed by the NBA and Turner Sports. This robust offering includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.

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