ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen’s College Fanz™ Sports Network Starts Exclusive Live Broadcasts of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week
August 6, 2009 – College Fanz™ Sports Network, the world’s largest online college sports community launched by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, celebrates its third season of college sports coverage with the inaugural season of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week.
The live College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week will be available on http://www.collegefanz.com/, with live pre- and post-game shows broadcast from the host college campus. Each “state-of-the-art” broadcast will include full nine-camera production (six in-stadium), graphics, expert broadcasters, half-time features and interviews with coaches, players, and college officials.
The inaugural season premiere is Saturday, August 29th, with live coverage of the first-ever meeting between Avila University and Doane College at 2 p.m. Eastern / 1 p.m. Central. It is the opener of a day-night double-header, with live coverage of the McKendree University and Ottawa University contest to follow at 8 p.m. Eastern / 7 p.m. Central.
In the weeks that follow, the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week broadcast and production team will travel across America in the innovative College Fanz Van provided by The Prestige Traveler -- Innovation on the Move. The College Fanz Van will visit college campuses around the country, and fanz in attendance can join the broadcast team for special pre-and-post-game events broadcast live from each campus. The College Fanz Van and the modified 16' Mobile Broadcasting Unit housed in a Wells Cargo trailer will be at the heart of every broadcast on campus, where the broadcast team will present special reports surrounding the live webcasts.
“The College Fanz Report,” also debuting this month, will be broadcast several times daily “on the road” and from the College Fanz studio, providing exclusive coverage of all NAIA college athletics.
Bill Rasmussen will serve as Executive Producer for the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week. The founder of ESPN is himself a veteran radio and television broadcaster. After an earlier successful entrepreneurial venture in the advertising business, Rasmussen’s career in the media began at WTTT radio in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1962. In 1965, he moved to WWLP-TV, Springfield, where he spent eight years as Sports Director and two years as News Director. During these years, he handled numerous football, basketball, baseball and hockey play-by-play assignments on both radio and television. In 1974, he left Springfield to join hockey’s New England Whalers as Communications Director. At the conclusion of the 1977-78 World Hockey Association season, Rasmussen was fired by the Whalers. Thus began the pursuit of the ESPN dream, incorporating the fledgling network on July 14, 1978. Fourteen months later, at 7 p.m. on September 7, 1979, Rasmussen’s dream, ESPN, became reality.
In the broadcast booth for the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week are Jason Dannelly (color) and John Thayer (play-by-play).
Dannelly is Producer for the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week. A veteran NAIA sports commentator, he is the Director of College Relations for College Fanz. Over the past several years, Dannelly has become the “guru” of the NAIA college sports scene, called upon for his expertise by a variety of media outlets. Dannelly launched the Victory Sports Network, the home for all things NAIA, in 2002. It quickly became the leading voice for NAIA college sports through its web sites, print magazines, and syndicated radio broadcasts. Victory Sports Network was acquired by College Fanz in November 2008.
Thayer has experience in print and online media as well as play-by-play and on-air hosting duties at a variety of radio and television stations in Colorado and Nebraska. Thayer’s extensive expertise in NAIA college sports includes his tenure as sports director at Doane College Campus Media for three years, as well as extensive coverage of NAIA sports for the Victory Sports Network.
The hosts for the pre-and post-game shows are Brandi Benson and Adam Maser.
Benson's experience includes play-by-play, color commentary and sports updates on numerous radio stations in Northeast Wyoming, including her role as a DJ for the top country music station in the state. Benson recently received honors from the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters for best large market play-by-play. A graduate of Hastings College, she provided play-by-play and color commentary for three years for the Broncos athletic teams, highlighted by her coverage of the NAIA Women's DII National Basketball Championship Tournament.
Maser's experience includes online reporting and video production as the Multimedia Content Producer for the Grand Island (NE) Independent along with play-by-play and color commentating duties for radio and web in Nebraska. A graduate of Hastings College, Maser was sports director for Hometown Family Radio based in McCook, Nebraska.
The director of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week is Wade Tracy. As the sports information director at Concordia University, he co-created the Concordia Sports Network, which provided audio broadcasts for all 18 varsity sports at the NAIA school, in 2007. In 2008, Tracy successfully expanded Concordia Sports Network coverage to include video broadcasts of home football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s’ basketball games and track meets. He was also the co-creator of the “Bulldog Blitz”, a weekly radio show recapping the week in Bulldog athletics.
Bret Beachner is the associate director of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week. He was the backup quarterback and senior captain of the University of Sioux Falls football team that captured the NAIA National Championship in 2008. The Sioux Falls Cougars made three consecutive National Championship appearances during Beachner’s career in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and also claimed the title in 2006.
The inaugural season of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week includes 20 games featuring many of the top-ranked teams in the NAIA. The scheduled broadcasts (subject to change) include:
Saturday, August 29: Avila University vs. Doane College (Platte City, MO)
Saturday, August 29: McKendree University vs. Ottawa University (Platte City, MO)
Thursday, September 3: Saint Xavier at Saint Francis (Joliet, IL)
Saturday, September 5: Nebraska Wesleyan at University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD)
Saturday, September 12: Friends University at McPherson College (McPherson, KS)
Saturday, September 19: Bethel College at Southern Nazarene (Bethany, OK)
Saturday, September 26: Marian College at St. Francis (Fort Wayne, IN)
Thursday, October 1: Campbellsville University at Shorter College (Rome, GA)
Saturday, October 3: Georgetown College at UVA College at Wise (Wise, VA)
Saturday, October 10: Morningside College at Hastings College (Hastings, NE)
Saturday, October 17: Montana Tech at Carroll College (Helena, MT)
Saturday, October 24: West Virginia Tech at University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg, KY)
Saturday, October 31: Benedictine College at Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO)
Sunday, November 8: Dacotah Bank Dakota Athletic Conference Bowl (4 games), (Fargo, ND)
Saturday, November 14: Langston University at Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)
Saturday, November 21: First Round of NAIA Playoffs
Saturday, November 28: NAIA Playoff Quarterfinals
Saturday, December 5: NAIA Playoff Semifinals
College Fanz will produce live coverage on November 15th with the “Selection Sunday Show,” revealing the 16 teams competing in the 2009 NAIA Football Championship Series. College Fanz will also produce a day-long NAIA Game Day show featuring all members of the College Fanz broadcast team on campus at the 54th Annual Russell Athletic-NAIA Football National Championship on Saturday, December 19th from Rome, GA.
About College Fanz:
Launched September 7, 2007, 28 years to the day that Bill Rasmussen’s ESPN dream went on the air for the first time, College Fanz Sports Network is the world’s largest online college sports community, with students, alumni, and other fanz of college sports. College Fanz boasts over 22,000 web pages devoted to more than 1,450 colleges and universities competing in over 225,000 NCAA and NAIA athletic events. Additional information is available at http://www.collegefanz.com/.
Media Contact:
Jim DeLorenzo
215-564-1122
jdelorenzo@collegefanz.com