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NFL scores Web deal
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July 11, 2001: 9:06 a.m. ET
League to team with AOL, CBS and SportsLine in new 4-way partnership
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The National Football League announced an Internet agreement Wednesday with America Online, CBS and SportsLine.
Under the four-way partnership, SportsLine (SPLN: Research, Estimates) will produce and host NFL.com, the league's official Web site. Earlier published reports said that the league had balked at an offer earlier from ESPN.com, a unit of Walt Disney Co. (DIS: Research, Estimates) that would have paid the league $250 million over five years to continue to produce its Web site. A value of the partnership was not given in the league's statement.
The new agreement calls for online and offline cross promotion and marketing with AOL and CBS.
AOL is a unit of AOL Time Warner (AOL: down $0.51 to $50.18, Research, Estimates), the owner of CNNfn, while CBS is a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIA: Research, Estimates). Viacom also owns 19 percent of SportsLine.
"While we have worked with all three organizations on separate projects in the past, this new opportunity enables us to take advantage of the strengths of the combined partnership," said Paul Tagliabue, the league's commissioner.
CBS, which lost the rights to broadcast NFL games following the 1993 season, won back the rights to broadcast some of the Sunday afternoon games for $4 billion over eight years starting in the 1998 season.
Under the new agreement the four partners are to explore a range of potential new business ventures in technology-based media. AOL wins the designation of the official Internet service provider of the NFL.
The NFL Internet Network, which includes NFL.com as well as the 32 NFL team and other related sites, reached 7.5 million unique visitors in its October 2000 peak. 
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