There will be 23 different NCAA sports that will crown champions this year. From field hockey to water polo, fall sports teams are getting ready for tournament time in all three classifications — Division I, II and III. NCAA.com is the home for all the action, streaming live for free. Since Turner Sports has taken over running the site, the production value of the webcasts are first rate and broadcast quality, well worth taking the time to watch.
Mark Johnson, vice president of business operations for NCAA Digital, oversees all the content the site has to offer. He discussed how the relationship between Turner Sports and the NCAA has improved the quality of what fans can see at NCAA.com.
If you have never been to the site, what will you see?
Johnson » “Well, to most people we are the broadband home of March Madness, but we stream live thousands of hours of championship content from fall, winter and spring sports. In most cases, the content that we stream live — such as the vast majority of the Division II and III championship events — are exclusive to NCAA.com. We also offer selection shows where the seedings are announced, as well as game previews and student-athlete profiles you won’t see anywhere else.”
What has been done to upgraded the quality of the coverage?
Johnson » “We at Turner Sports see NCAA.com as a network, and we treat it that way. We have top-notch broadcast teams covering these championship events, and they are produced in a multi-camera format that gives the fans the total television experience. For instance, we use talent like Vince Cellini, who many people know from our NBA and NASCAR coverage, to anchor our selection shows that are done from the same Atlanta studios where all of the Turner Sports programming is produced.”
Have you found that you are attracting a new group of fans to the site?
Johnson » “We are growing every day and it really is because no matter if you are a student at the University of Virginia or Catholic University, we have something of interest to you. Our site is the only place to see these championship events so the students, alumni and the family members of the student athletes participating are coming to NCAA.com to watch if you can’t be there in person.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
