Yahoo! Sports Reveals What College Basketball Fans Will Do For Tournament: 1 In 7 Have Called In Sick To Work

Thanks to Yahoo! college basketball fans will have extra-special access to all the excitement surrounding the NCAA Tournament, including a chance to win $5 million in Tourney Pick’em, award-winning coverage from a team of experts, and access across multiple devices to keep fans from missing a minute of the action.

Yahoo! Sports Tourney Pick’em 2012

Tourney Pick’em ( http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1) is a free bracket game that lets fans pick the teams that will dominate the tournament. Fans have a chance at winning $5 million for a perfect bracket, and $10 thousand is guaranteed for the most points. This year, Yahoo! Sports has teamed up with superstars like Drew Brees, and Michael Phelps to make sure brackets give back. Yahoo! is making a donation to each celebrity’s charity and fans can test their bracket skills against all-stars by signing up for their pools and helping to support their charities while competing against them. Join the stars here.

“As a fierce competitor, I am ready to take on top performers like Phelps in the battle for dominance in Yahoo! Sports Tourney Pick'em!,” said Drew Brees, superstar NFL quarterback. “As a fan of college basketball and someone who cares very much about the community, it made sense to enter my bracket on the No. 1 sports site, Yahoo! Sports, and compete to take home the prize for my charity.”

Fans Go Crazy for March Madness

Yahoo! Sports recently asked fans about their bracket habits and learned:

• Fans spend, on average, 75 minutes filling out their brackets, which is nearly twice as long as a regulation college basketball game. Men spend, on average, nearly 30 minutes more on their brackets than women.
• Fans fill out an average of 4.5 brackets, with 14% saying they complete six or more.
• 1 in 7 fans have called in sick to work to watch the tournament, and 7% of fans have gotten in trouble for watching the tournament at work.
• If fans could pick the Final Four teams, they would be Ohio State, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Connect With March Madness Anytime, Anywhere

Yahoo! is offering NCAA Tournament fans a variety of ways to connect with the action across multiple screens -- whether they’re watching games on the couch or on the go.

• For the first time, Yahoo! Tourney Pick'em will be available to basketball enthusiasts across devices, including desktop and apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad.
• IntoNow from Yahoo! is a TV companion experience that gives TV-watchers and fans real-time access to information, including stats, scores, brackets, video commentary, and player background, as well as an easy way to connect and share with friends while they’re watching the games across Facebook, Twitter, and in-app discussions. (Available on iPad, iPhone and Android devices.)
• Fans with Yahoo! Connected TV on Sony®, VIZIO®, Samsung®, and Toshiba® TVs can use the Yahoo! Sports TV App to get NCAA Basketball news, scores, photos, and videos.
• The Yahoo! Sportacular app provides up-to-the-minute scores, standings, schedules, and stats on the go. In addition, the new “Check In” feature will let fans show support of their favorite team and the games that they are following. (Available on iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry devices.)

Holistic Approach to Advertiser Integration

More than ever before, marketers are upping their game in the social and digital spheres across devices -- and top brand Mercedes-Benz has already locked in a truly integrated experience by partnering with Yahoo! to create a unique way to engage and surround the consumer journey across screens. The sponsorship includes:

• Integration within the Yahoo! Sports video coverage of the NCAA Tournament, providing fans with college basketball highlights that can be seen on Yahoo! Sports and The Dagger, the Yahoo! Sports college basketball blog.
• A Mercedes-Benz branded TV companion experience with IntoNow, which includes sponsored polling.
• Mercedes-Benz will sponsor the Yahoo! Sports TV app on Yahoo! Connected TV and take advantage of Yahoo! Broadcast Interactivity, enabling consumers to interact with 2012 Mercedes C-Class car information, pictures and videos while watching the TV ads.

Original Content

Yahoo! Sports continues its commitment to delivering the top sports news and original programming:

• For the first time, National College Basketball Columnist Pat Forde will be covering the tournament for Yahoo! Sports, and fans can expect his “Forde Minutes” to be packed with news about players, teams, coaches and the match-ups.
• Tourney Bracket LIVE 2012 will give fans 60 minutes of quick-hitting advice from Pat Forde, NCAA Tournament winner Greg Anthony, Yahoo! Sports National Columnist Dan Wetzel, and bracket guru Brad Evans via chat, Twitter, and telephone. The show tips off on Sunday Selection, March 11 at 5 pm PT and will be available at the Yahoo! Sports website.
• Fans that find their brackets busted after the second round can test their skills again with Second Chance Tourney Pick’em. The bracket game opens on March 15, closes at tip-off on March 22, and has $5 thousand in guaranteed prize money for the best bracket.
• This season Yahoo! Sports is also getting the women’s teams into the bracket action. Fans can compete in Yahoo! Sports Women's Tourney Pick'em.

About the Survey:

Yahoo! survey of consumers in March 2012. We interviewed n= 2,321 Americans ages 18 to 64 representative of the Yahoo! U.S. online population via an online quantitative survey.

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