The industry’s No. 1 fantasy football game kicks off the 2015 season with new, comprehensive content and features for mobile, television, online, audio and more. Includes the return of ESPN.com’s Mock Draft Mondays, new daily fantasy content and the debut of “Fantasy Football Kickoff” every Tuesday.
On television, ESPN will debut a new Tuesday fantasy football studio show, Fantasy Football Kickoff, featuring host Robert Flores, Matthew Berry, Tim Hasselbeck and contributor Stephania Bell. The show will air every Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN, starting August 18th and through the fantasy football season. A one-hour SportsCenter Special: Dominating Your Draft will also air on Friday, August 28, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The ESPN Fantasy Football app, with more than 16 million downloads to date, provides fantasy players on the go unprecedented access to their fantasy teams, including alerts regarding scores, trades and news; live auction and snake drafts; and access to Mock and Live Draft Lobbies. Across iPhone, Android and Windows Phone devices, the free-to-download app allows players to create leagues, manage teams and rosters, draft teams, participate in mock drafts, follow matchups with FantasyCast live scoring, access news, columns and videos from ESPN Fantasy analysts, view and post messages to league message boards and more.
Kicking off preseason preparations for fantasy players, ESPN.com has begun hosting Mock Draft Mondays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET every Monday in August. Players have the unique opportunity to ask questions and practice draft strategies against ESPN fantasy football analysts including Matthew Berry, Eric Karabell, Field Yates and Tristan H. Cockcroft, along with injury analyst Stephania Bell, SportsCenter’s Robert Flores and various NFL Nation reporters, among others. Fans are also able to interact with ESPN’s experts and analysts via social media.
The ESPN Fantasy Football Commissioner Toolkit returns to ESPN Fantasy Football leagues, highlighting the role of the commissioner and tools to make the job easier, more fun and social. The toolkit allows commissioners and team managers to share videos on social media, sync leagues to Facebook and invite friends to join. Toolkit features include:
- League Inviter and Press Conference– Commissioners simulate on-air video interviews with SportsCenter host John Anderson, which can be shared via social media.
- The Enforcer– Video messages from commissioners to team managers featuring current and former NFL players and personalities accepting or rejecting trades, sending reminders to set their lineups and more.
- Draft Report Cards– Commissioners add customized comments and grade results.
- Scheduling Tools– Participants can vote on select dates and provide instant feedback on their availability.
ESPN.com provides multiple tools for the draft including a Fantasy Football Draft Kit, which analyses and projects more than 500 players. Cheat Sheet Central, rankings and strategy content are also included, as well as the must-read 2015 editions of Matthew Berry’s “Draft Day Manifesto” and soon-to-be-published “Love/Hate” column. For those looking for a more hands-on way to prepare, the Mock Draft Lobby is designed to run nearly unlimited live practice drafting sessions against other ESPN fantasy football owners.
Once a draft is complete, ESPN will offer new Team Logo Sticker Packs, which allow players to easily create unique avatars for their fantasy football team for free. Millions of players used the Fantasy Football logo templates last year, including pre-designed sports and entertainment-driven logo graphics that enhance any team’s identity.
During the season, managers can follow ESPN FantasyCast for free live scoring in real-time during fantasy football Sundays, access embedded player information cards and have the ability to add/flag players to better manage the waiver wire throughout the season. Each league also features message boards, chats, polls and smack boards. Players can also interact with ESPN Fantasy throughout the season on social platforms via the @ESPNFantasy Twitter page and the ESPN Fantasy Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/ESPNfantasy.
ESPN.com
ESPN.com continues to provide fantasy football players with an unmatched depth and breadth of news, analysis and insights on fantasy football. Once again, ESPN has brought together the best roster of writers, analysts and media personalities in the industry, including:
- Matthew Berry (a.k.a. “The Talented Mr. Roto”), a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame and Fantasy Sports Trade Association Hall of Fame, will reveal highly popular positional rankings on Tuesdays and release his signature “Love/Hate” columns beginning Thursday, August 20, and weekly during the NFL season. He will also appear in a variety of video segments and record an audio version of his Draft Day Manifesto.
- ESPN.com Fantasy Insider Eric Karabell will blog daily and post his popular weekly Flex Rankings every Thursday.
- ESPN Insider Field Yates joins Matthew Berry as the co-host of the daily Fantasy Focus podcast and will contribute a weekly free-agent pickup column and to ESPN.com fantasy rankings.
- Fantasy injury analyst and ESPN.com senior writer Stephania Bell will blog about the latest player injury news and updates from around the league.
Other contributors include FSWA Hall of Famer Tristan H. Cockcroft, ESPN Insider KC Joyner and Pro Football Focus’ Mike Clay. Fans will also find insight from ESPN.com’s football experts and analysts, including pro football Hall of Famer John Clayton, national columnists and Insiders, as well as team-by-team coverage from the NFL Nation network.
Daily Fantasy Football
ESPN will provide comprehensive Daily Fantasy Football coverage from ESPN analysts Matthew Berry, KC Joyner, Eric Karabell, Tristan Cockcroft, Joe Kaiser and others. Also, ESPN is teaming with DraftKings to award the ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager player who secures the highest number of fantasy points in the DraftKings Week 1 Millionaire Maker contest an additional $1 Million to split between all members of his or her season-long 2015 ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager league(s).
Television
In addition to the new Fantasy Football Kickoff show, ESPN will provide fantasy players with more fantasy football insights, information and analysis on its television networks for the 2015 season, including:
- SportsCenter Special: Dominating Your Draft: Friday, August 28, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN, the show will feature analysis and debate from Robert Flores, Matthew Berry, Tim Hasselbeck, Field Yates, Sara Walsh and Stephania Bell.
- Sunday NFL Countdown: Matthew Berry will join the cast of Sunday NFL Countdown on Sunday mornings, providing fantasy analysis to ESPN’s flagship pregame show. Berry will remain active on the highly successful Fantasy Football Now, and he will contribute to ESPN’s new NFL Insiders: Sunday Edition (10 a.m. ET).
- Fantasy Football Now: The Emmy Award-winning live Sunday morning program returns to ESPN2, ESPNEWS and WatchESPN. Robert Flores, Sarah Walsh, Matthew Berry, Tim Hasselbeck, Field Yates and Stephania Bell will prepare fans for the day’s fantasy action. Fantasy Football Now will air for two hours every Sunday at 11 a.m. ET during the season beginning September 13.
- NFL Live, SportsCenter, Mike & Mike: ESPN’s signature news, information and analysis programs will feature fantasy football content integration, with additional in-depth attention to fantasy football in August.
Audio
ESPN Audio will once again bring fans original programming and content dedicated to fantasy football throughout the season:
- ESPN Radio – Throughout the season, ESPN Radio will devote attention to fantasy football in popular programs like the daily Mike & Mike simulcast on ESPN2.
- ESPN Fantasy Focus Football – The popular podcast returned to its daily schedule Monday, August 4. Hosted by Matthew Berry and new co-host Field Yates, Fantasy Focus provides player previews, game overviews and strategies as well as featured guests and interviews.
- ESPN Fantasy Football Weekly – Anita Marks of ESPN New York will host this new weekly show, focusing on scouting, analytics and the X’s and O’s of fantasy football in order to provide an edge for both traditional and daily fantasy players.
- ESPN DFS Podcast – Also hosted by Anita Marks, this new weekly podcast will feature ESPN experts and guests. The show will examine the broader DFS landscape, focusing on advice, news, trends and profiles.
- The ESPN Daily Fantasy Podcast Channel – Launching this September, the channel will be home to the weekly DFS podcast as well as short-form vignettes by ESPN’s Daily Fantasy experts and will be focused on lineup advice for that day’s DFS action on DraftKings.
- 10th Annual Fantasy Draft Convention and Championship – ESPN Chicago will host the event at UIC Forum in Chicago on Saturday, August 22, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT, with ESPN NFL and Fantasy Football analysts onsite, hosted by Stephania Bell, John Clayton and Eric Karabell, with ESPN Chicago 1000 voices.
- Inaugural ESPN New York Fantasy Football Convention – On Saturday, August 29, ESPN New York will host the first ESPN 98.7 Fantasy Football Convention at Empire City Casino in Yonkers, N.Y., from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ESPN NFL and Fantasy Football analysts at the event will include Adam Schefter, Matthew Berry, Stephania Bell, Ken Daube, Damien Woody, Ray Lucas, Anita Marks, and Ryan Ruocco, as well as ESPN New York 98.7FM hosts and analysts.
ESPN The Magazine
The Magazine’s 2015 Fantasy Football Guide is currently on newsstands and full of information and insight for every fantasy football player including:
- Matthew Berry’s essay on how his drafts hinge around three words this season: first or last. Berry also offers his earliest-ever edition of his iconic “Love/Hate” column.
- A cover story on Odell Beckham Jr. and the 2014’s rookie wide receiver class, which was historically good. What will they do for an encore?
- In depth analysis and projections for more than 500 players – from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Zuerlein.
- Renée Miller’s six-page beginner’s guide to daily fantasy football offers novice players a chance to learn how to win in the fastest-growing segment of fantasy games.
- The team previews section, in which Field Yates tells fans of each team how to draft with their head, not their heart.
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