National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 9, 1998

Nothing but .net

Popular basketball Web site scores with variety of features

The expression "back by popular demand" applies in a big way to to the World Wide Web site for the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships.

To say the site -- FinalFour.net -- was popular when it debuted last year would understate the case. At times, the men's championship set off a frenzy of activity, producing more than one million "hits" per hour.

When the tournaments were complete and the activity was analyzed, the site had generated 32.1 million hits and 9.4 million page loads. Even in an industry in which big numbers are the norm, those figures were impressive -- especially given the small lead time that went into development and promotion.

"We were overwhelmed at the popularity of the site in its first year," said Wallace I. Renfro, NCAA director of public relations and administrator for NCAA Online. "With the improvements that have been made, it is hard to guess what the response will be."

This year, expect more.

Good word of mouth

Since the 1997 championships, the site has benefited from a year of experience and from a wealth of favorable publicity and word of mouth. In addition to those advantages, Tim Campbell, senior vice-president for electronic media for Host Communications, noted that the Internet "has continued to grow exponentially," greatly increasing the size of the potential audience.

All of the features that were so popular last year will be back, including the Java-based "desktop scoreboard," which provides real-time updates for games in progress.

However, the site also will include several major improvements, the most notable of which will be the addition of six computer video games. To play the games, users will need to have "Shockwave" freeware. For those who don't already have it, a link to the Shockwave site will be supplied.

Campbell said that other improvements include:

  • An enhanced design, which should make it easier for users to move among the many available options.

  • Addition of a "guest book." This will permit an analysis of who is visiting the site, acquisition of demographic material and the ability to solicit feedback on what is good about the site and what could be improved.

  • More information on the pages for each of the competing teams.

  • More depth from the Audionet broadcasts. In addition to providing real-time audio broadcasts of every game, Audionet also will make available features such as great moments in NCAA basketball history.

    Cybercasts will be provided for all games of the Division I men's tournament and for all games in the Division I women's tournament after the first and second rounds (sites in the first two rounds of the women's tournament are not predetermined, which makes it impossible to arrange for the cybercasts).

    The site will be supported by NCAA corporate partners, who will have the opportunity to advertise, and is presented by NCAA Online, the NCAA's organizational site.