Sports: Bucs come up short online

Bucs come up short online

By GREG AUMAN

By the time the NFL season kicks off Sunday, NFL.com will have a new look, a new philosophy and new features for fans looking to supplement their football viewing online.

Leading the way is the NFL Internet Network, which will allow fans to hear live audio broadcasts of about 90 percent of this season's games. Flagship radio stations for 22 of the NFL's 31 teams will allow their broadcasts to be downloaded at NFL.com and their teams' official sites.

But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not among those 22 teams. Bucs fans looking for audiocasts of games online can listen to 12 of this season's 16 games through the flagship stations of opposing teams.

The Bucs won't be part of NFL.com's broadcasts because the team's flagship station, WQYK-FM 99.5, is part of New York-based Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, which also owns the flagship stations for the Bears, Cowboys, Lions, Patriots and Redskins. Infinity has a company policy against streaming live radio -- football or otherwise -- on the Internet.

"Just like football, radio is a business," Infinity spokesman Dana McClintock said Thursday. "And it's not good business to give away your signal for free on the Internet. This isn't a business model that makes sense."

You could argue that livecasting on the Internet doesn't cost the radio stations anything and allows their broadcast to reach a larger audience. McClintock said that is true, but a Bucs fan listening online in Ohio isn't worth very much to a Tampa car dealer advertising on the local station.

"What's the value in that?" McClintock asked. "Radio is largely a local media, and with the Internet, you don't know how big your audience is, so it's difficult to sell it."

On Thursday, the Chicago Bears' flagship station, WBBM-AM 780, an Infinity affiliate, agreed to join the NFL's online broadcast network. McClintock said that station will follow company policy by not streaming its signal on its own site, but will allow the NFL to pick up its signal to stream at NFL.com. It's a confusing loophole that would seem to set a precedent that would allow other Infinity stations to join the NFL's ring, but McClintock said it's too early to make that assumption.

"Every deal with every station and the NFL is unique," McClintock said.

Scott Smith, internet manager for the Buccaneers, said he would like to see Bucs games available online, but that the team had already had extensive talks with WQYK this summer.

"We had a lot of discussions with them about this," Smith said. "They have the contract and they have the rights, so there's not much we can do."

Other new features at NFL.com: video highlights edited by NFL Films for each team will be available each week; auctioning of NFL memorabilia and merchandise; and links to teams' official pages instead of the standardized league-produced pages NFL.com had last year.

HAPPY BIDDING: Bucs receiver Keyshawn Johnson has 10 auctions ending today on eBay.com, with proceeds going to the Keyshawn Johnson Education Fund. Among the items are pairs of 50-yard line tickets to three home games, plus a chance to meet Johnson (minimum bid $500); a game-worn and signed Bucs jersey (bidding at $1,175); two "practice-used" adidas cleats (bidding at $100 each) and a chance to play in Johnson's annual golf tournament in Los Angeles -- minimum bid for a foursome is $5,000. Go to eBay.com and search for "Keyshawn," and you should find the auctions, which end just after 2 p.m. today.

CHATWATCH: With the NFL draft looming just, um, seven months away, Mel Kiper Jr. begins weekly chats at ESPN.com at 4:30 p.m. today. ... League MVP Kurt Warner of St. Louis chats at NFL.com at 8 p.m. Tuesday. ... U.S. Olympic sprinter Maurice Greene, world-record holder in the 100 meters, will chat on AOL (keyword: live) at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

TID-BYTES: The Devil Rays raised $42,000 for charities by selling the game-worn jerseys from last month's turn-back-the-clock game against the Chicago White Sox. The winning bidder on 17 of them was a representative of Upper Deck, a leading sports card manufacturer. Upper Deck plans to cut up the jerseys -- including those of Rays rookie Jason Tyner and Aubrey Huff -- and put swatches in cards inserted into packs later this year. ... The Bucs were ranked sixth (behind Carolina, no less) in Sportsline.com's weekly fan power rankings Thursday. Indianapolis was No. 1. ... Brandon-based Bigpros.com, which runs the official sites for Bucs players Warren Sapp (big99.com), Derrick Brooks (hit55.com) and Ronde Barber (nfltwins.com), launched receiver Jacquez Green's official site at 81deep.com. Look for the "Big Pros Cruiser" promotional truck at Raymond James Stadium for special giveaways during home games.

- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, send an e-mail to staff writer Greg Auman at aumanac1@aol.com.