SportsTicker announces agreement with The Upper Deck Company

Upper Deck launches Industry's First Online Fantasy Baseball Game with Real-Time Content from SportsTicker

JERSEY CITY, NJ (PRWEB) May 7, 2003 -- SportsTicker(R), the leading supplier of real-time sports news and information, today announced it will provide sports news and information to The Upper Deck Company, LLC for use with their release of the sports trading card industry's first online fantasy baseball game, SportsNut.

SportsTicker will provide real-time score updates, schedules and other sports information to Upper Deck's online fantasy baseball game SportsNut (www.sportsnut.com). The Upper Deck Company, known for its cutting-edge technology and innovative product designs, has just recorded another first for the trading card industry: online fantasy sports games. The hobby's leading sports card company debuted SportsNut last month -- an easy-to-play online fantasy game -- as a subset inside its 2003 MVP Baseball release. This agreement helps to combine sports card collecting with fantasy sports
enthusiasm and technology.

"The Upper Deck Company is a welcome addition to our list of clients," said Vin Bagnaturo, Director of Sales, SportsTicker. "We are delighted in bringing SportsTicker's real-time information to Upper Deck's fantasy sports component, giving the user a 'front row' perspective in their online game experience."

SportsTicker delivers instant scores, breaking sports news, statistics, previews, recaps and features, gathered by more than 850 event-site reporters. SportsTicker serves hundreds of radio and TV stations, broadcast and cable networks, newspapers, wire services, interactive media, on-line services, paging services, multimedia and other electronic publishing applications throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America and Japan.

"The objective for our company was actually two-fold," said Tim Muret, Upper Deck's senior director of Product Development. "First, we wanted to create unique content for our existing collectors who like fantasy sports. Second, we saw this as a way to attract potential new collectors to the hobby."

SportsNut is simple enough to play, provided one has a computer with Internet access. "SportsNut" game cards pack out at a ratio of one in every three packs (1:3) of 2003 MVP Baseball ($1.99 per pack; eight game cards per box). There are a total of 90 different player cards to collect with eCard activation including 60 batters and 30 pitchers. Therefore,
the more game cards a collector has, the more player options he has to make his weekly starting lineup. Initially, participants will need only one pitcher and two hitters to field a team.

Just for playing each week, contestants receive 100 "Rewards" points. For winning the weekly contest, that player receives 10,000 points; for finishing second through 10th, 5,000 points; 11 through 25, 2,500 points and 26 through 50 earns 1,000 points. The rewards points that players accumulate from week to week can then be used to bid on unsigned
collectibles and autographed memorabilia located at Upper Deck's newly unveiled "Rewards Program" auction site: www.udrewards.com.

The Upper Deck Company, LLC is a premier sports/entertainment publishing company which delivers a portfolio of relevant, innovative and multi-dimensional product experiences to collectors, sports and entertainment enthusiasts. Founded in 1988, The Upper Deck Company, LLC is located in Carlsbad, California.

SportsTicker, the primary instant sports news source for ESPN.com, America Online, Yahoo!, MSNBC, SI.com, USAToday.com, Fox Sports, Citysearch and Infospace, is also the official statistician for more than 40 professional leagues and associations, including all 16 U.S. based leagues of Minor League Baseball.

SportsTicker is the instant sports news and information service of ESPN, Inc.