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Deals give Super Bowl Web site a wider reach

The look might be a little cleaner, the technology a little better, but for the folks producing SuperBowl.com this week, the biggest difference should be traffic.

A year ago, when Sportsline.com came to Tampa to produce the Super Bowl's official site, it was the beginning of a larger relationship. Months later, Sportsline landed a lucrative contract to produce NFL.com, and subsequent promotional agreements with AOL and Fox TV is expected to bring enough traffic to surpass last year's 17-million page views during Super Bowl week.

"I think we can do even better," said Joe Ferreira, Sportsline's vice president of programming and executive producer of the Super Bowl site. "We have a much more expansive role with the NFL this year, and that offers us even more assets and allows us to do more things."

The week leading up to last year's game featured a daily hourlong live radio show online, but this week, the site has upgraded to a 90-minute TV broadcast, produced by NFL Films' Steve Sabol. Today's SuperBowl.com Live show, set for 4, will include an interview with NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira.

Wednesday's show was informative and candid, led by former Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, who pointed out that Sunday's game will be the first in 14 years in which neither starting quarterback was drafted in the first round.

The site has added more audio and video clips, and a new design allows video to appear on the regular page without a new browser popping up.

Another returning feature will allow fans to play a role in deciding the game's MVP; in-game online balloting counts 20 percent toward deciding who takes home the Pete Rozelle Trophy. Last year's balloting drew 433,000 votes in a 25-minute window, and Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis won despite the fans' vote going to ex-Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer.

The biggest traffic waits for the weekend: Last year's game day drew 11.5-million page views, a 49 percent increase from the year before. Sunday's schedule includes chats during the game with Brandt and former Bills coach Marv Levy, who trumpeted former players Jim Kelly and James Lofton as worthy of the Hall of Fame in a column Thursday. The site also will stream live audio from the press box and stadium announcer, as well as radio broadcasts in seven languages, perhaps allowing fans to find out how to say "I'm going to Disney World" in Russian. In the hour after the game, the site will show footage from 14 interview podiums, plus news conferences with the MVP and winning coach.

SUPER TID-BYTES: Fans voting at MSNBC.com this week selected 2000's Budweiser "Wassup" commercial as the all-time best Super Bowl ad, with last year's cat-herders spots taking a close second. Vintage downloads include a rare Spuds MacKenzie sighting, and for another look at the best from recent years, check out superbowl-ads.com. ... With the game in New Orleans, don't forget great recipe sites. For local cuisine, zatarain.com might be the next best thing to hurricanes at Pat O'Briens or beignets at Cafe Dumond. ... With a boost from SuperBowl.com and improving financial numbers, Sportsline's stock hit a two-month high at $3.70 Thursday. The company still reported a loss of $16.2-million in the fourth quarter of 2001, but it is sticking with a projection of reaching cash-flow profits by the end of 2002. ... Sixty percent of fans at Buccaneers.com said the Rams would win Sunday's game, and half of those said St. Louis would "win big." The early favorite for MVP is Rams running back Marshall Faulk, who had 45 percent of 50,000-plus votes at NFL.com on Thursday.

-- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, e-mail staff writer Greg Auman at auman@sptimes.com.

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