15 January 2001
XFL Enters Into Exclusive Strategic Agreement To Develop New League's Fantasy Football Games
STAMFORD, Conn.-The XFL today announced it has signed an exclusive agreement with Sandbox, a leading sports and entertainment company, to provide two free fantasy football games for the professional football league's inaugural season. The XFL fantasy games are under development and will be available at the Sandbox.com and XFL.com Web sites prior to and during the XFL season.
Under the terms of the exclusive one-year agreement, the XFL has hired the services of Sandbox to develop, host and maintain its fantasy football games. Additionally, the agreement calls for the XFL to sell all game sponsorships as well as banner advertising within the games. Those who register for the XFL fantasy games will be added to Sandbox's 5.4 million member database, allowing the company to market its other products and services to those users.
This relationship is a win-win-win for Sandbox, the XFL and our members,`` said Sandbox president and CEO Larry Cotter. ''Sandbox is able to reach a completely new audience of users, which translates into potential for massive membership growth. The XFL gains an instant online following through our wildly popular fantasy games. The biggest winner in this relationship is our members, who may now play fantasy football almost year-round.``
``Fantasy games will make the XFL experience even more enjoyable for our fans,'' said Basil V. DeVito, Jr., XFL President. ``Whether it's on the field action, our game broadcasts or programs like Fantasy Football with a terrific partner like Sandbox, the XFL is committed to delivering an exciting product.''
About XFL
The XFL is a new professional football league joinlty owned by World Wrestling Federating Entertainment, Inc., and NBC. The league's inaugural season kicks off on February 3, 2001 at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on NBC. For additional information on the XFL, please go to XFL.com.
About Sandbox
Sandbox is a leading interactive sports and entertainment company with over 50 free games, including fantasy sports, sweepstakes, trivia, financial, arcade and play-for-fun casino games. Sandbox maintains a community of over 5.4 million registered members. A combination of creative content, an incentive-based marketing program and leading-edge technologies allows Sandbox to generate high volumes of Web site traffic, build loyal user communities and develop innovative Internet promotion platforms. Media Metrix consistently ranks Sandbox in the top 20 among digital properties and Web sites in terms of duration or ``stickiness,'' which measures time spent per unique user per month.