CBSSports.com

CBSSports.com (formerly CBS SportsLine.com) was founded in 1994 as SportsLine USA, and today is a CBS-owned website that provides sports scores, news, statistics, live and on-demand video, mobile apps, e-commerce, fantasy sports products, services, and information. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, CBSSports.com is a popular American sports websites, along with Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com, and SI.com. It provides coverage of the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), NCAA College Basketball and Football, NASCAR plus many other professional, college, and high school sports.

CBSSports.com also features many writers and columnists such as Gregg Doyel, Mike Freeman, Jason La Canfora, Bruce Feldman, Jon Heyman, Jeff Goodman, Dennis Dodd, Gary Parrish and Tony Barnhart, plus fantasy sports experts like Scott White, Sergio Gonzalez, Jamey Eisenberg, Nando Di Fino and Dave Richard.

CBSSports.com is wholly owned by the CBS Corporation, a mass media company with operations in nearly every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable, and local television production and syndication, radio and music, advertising on out-of-home media, publishing, and interactive media. CBSSports.com operates as a unit of CBS Interactive and is the online presence of CBS Sports. The CBSSports.com portfolio of brands includes CBSSports.com, online high-school sports leader MaxPreps, and the CBSSports.com College Network, a group of approximately 175 official athletic websites for colleges and universities across the United States which are produced by CBSSports.com. CBS Corporation (then Viacom) purchased SportsLine USA in 2004. On August 22, 2007, CBS SportsLine.com changed its name to CBSSports.com to better unify the CBS Sports brand across its television, online and mobile platforms.

SportsLine
SportsLine USA, Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company, was founded by technology veteran Michael Levy in February 1994. The online service dedicated exclusively to sports information, entertainment and merchandise, officially launched the first generation of its service on June 1, 1995. SportsLine's service became available on the Internet's World Wide Web through commercial online services or through direct Internet access at http://www.sportsline.com.

At SportsLine, Levy forged alliances with CBS Sports, AOL, the NFL, the NBA, MLB, the PGA Tour, the NCAA, various players’ associations and many superstar athletes including Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Joe Namath, John Elway, Jerry Rice, Mike Schmidt and Wayne Gretzky. SportsLine’s initial venture funding was through Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers. Subsequent private investors included Reuters, TCI, US West and NY Life. Mr. Levy took SportsLine public in 1997 raising $32 million. In 1998, SportsLine raised $150 million in a secondary offering and in 1999 raised $150 million in a convertible bond offering. During the Internet boom years from 1998 to early 2000, SportsLine’s market cap routinely exceeded $1 billion.

CBS Purchase
In December 2004, Viacom Inc. announced that it had finalized its acquisition of SportsLine.com, one of the industry's leading online sports media companies. Viacom Inc., a leading global media company that at the time included CBS, agreed to pay $1.75 per share for the roughly 26.6 million shares in SportsLine that it did not already control. SportsLine had been actively seeking a buyer since May, as it was losing money and owed payments to Viacom, which ran a co-branded site with SportsLine.

Viacom had been SportsLine's largest customer for a number of years. In March 1997, SportsLine USA struck a marketing partnership with CBS Sports to create CBS SportsLine, which was billed as "the nation's premier online media service devoted exclusively to sports information, entertainment, and merchandise." The sports content company published the CBS SportsLine site for the media conglomerate's television subsidiary, CBS. In addition to providing sports news and related content, SportsLine also maintained CBS' fantasy sports Web sites, an increasingly popular and potentially lucrative online media niche. In the previous year, SportsLine had signed a deal with Google to use the search giant's technology and sponsored advertising links on its Web sites. The company originally operated as a division of CBS Sports, reporting to Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports.

Fantasy Sports
CBSSports.com got into the fantasy sports business early on, producing games in 1997. In 1998, CBSSports.com partnered with Daedalus World Wide Corporation, a producer of online fantasy sports products. CBSSports.com would acquire Daedalus World Wide Corporation in 1999, using their products as the basis of its fantasy sports business going forward. Initially, CBSSports.com charged a subscription fee to play its fantasy games. However, in July 2000 the company decided to drop all fees associated with its fantasy sports games and starting offering the products free of charge. The switch caused a massive amount of sign-ups for its fantasy sports games. However, the move to free fantasy sports products did not last long as just two years later CBSSports.com switched back to a subscription-based model to run their fantasy sports business. Behind the popularity of the CBSSports.com Commissioner product, which has been voted the best fantasy sports league manager service by the FSTA in eight of the last nine years, fantasy sports are a significant portion of CBSSports.com's business.

About CBS Interactive
CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, is an online content network for information and entertainment. With 200 million people visiting its properties each month, it is a top 10 Web property globally and a top 5 Web property in the U.S. in terms of unique video viewers. Its portfolio of brands, include CNET, CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET, CBS RADIO, and Last.fm, span popular categories such as technology, entertainment, sports, news and business.

Key Dates

 * June 1, 1995- Sportsline USA kicks off service.
 * March 5, 1997- CBS Sports and SportsLine USA joined forces to create CBS SportsLine.
 * June 26, 2000- SportsLine.com, Inc. Redesigns Its Flagship Site, CBS SportsLine.com
 * August 2, 2004- Viacom Agrees To Acquire SportsLine.com, Inc.
 * December 10, 2004- Viacom Completes Acquisition Of SportsLine.com
 * August 2, 2005- CBS SportsLine.com created a college fantasy football game that was offered free of charge starting with the 2005 season. The company was the first major fantasy sports entity to enter the marketplace with a collegiate fantasy football game.
 * November 4, 2005- CBS Corporation acquires CSTV
 * March 22, 2007- CBS Corporation acquires MaxPreps
 * August 22, 2007- CBS SportsLine.com becomes CBSSports.com
 * January 15, 2008- CBSSports.com Ends 2007 on a Traffic Streak; Starts 2008 with a Site Redesign
 * January, 2010- CBSSports.com moves into new headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Notable Accomplishments

 * November 6, 1995- SportsLine USA was ranked as the #1 sports service on the Web by Interactive Sports Wire. SportsLine USA received an overall rating of 86 percent, a full eight percent in front of ESPNet.
 * June 27, 1997- SportsLine USA, Inc., CEO Michael Levy was named 1997 Florida Entrepreneur of the Year by a panel representing Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Services LLP. Levy, 50, won in the "Emerging" category for companies less than five years old.
 * March 9, 1998- SportsLine USA, Inc., publisher of CBS SportsLine (cbs.sportsline.com), the Internet's leading sports Web site, announced that CBS SportsLine was awarded the prestigious 1998 Webby Award in the sports category.
 * December 16, 1998- SportsLine USA, Inc. announced today that its popular CBS SportsLine Web site (cbs.sportsline.com) has been named "Best Sports Site" by NetGuide (www.netguide.com). NetGuide 99's "The Year's Best of the Web" recognizes exceptional sites in 22 separate categories ranging from Best Chat site to Best News site to Best Sports site.
 * September 26, 2000- Dennis Dodd, CBS SportsLine.com's college football senior writer, earned a first-place award in the annual Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Best Writing Contest for the second consecutive year.
 * January 8, 2008- The winners of the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards were announced and CBSSports.com and CBS Sports were honored for their production of March Madness on Demand, the online video experience that provides live streaming video of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
 * April 30, 2012- The winners of the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards were announced and CBSSports.com was honored for its production of the Game of Honor Web Series.

Expert Columnists

 * Gregg Doyel- National Columnist
 * Clark Judge- NFL
 * Pete Prisco- NFL
 * Jason La Canfora- NFL
 * Mike Freeman- NFL
 * Pat Kirwan- NFL
 * Rob Rang- NFL Draft
 * Jamey Eisenberg- Fantasy Football
 * Dave Richard- Fantasy Football
 * Dennis Dodd- College Football
 * J. Darin Darst- College Football
 * Tony Barnhart- College Football
 * Bruce Feldman- College Football
 * Ken Berger- NBA
 * Scott Miller- MLB
 * Jon Heyman- MLB
 * Danny Knobler- MLB
 * Scott White- Fantasy Baseball
 * Al Malchior- Fantasy Baseball
 * Nando Di Fino- Fantasy Baseball
 * Gary Parrish- College Basketball
 * Jeff Goodman- College Basketball
 * Jerry Palm- College Sports
 * Michael Hurcomb- Fantasy Sports
 * Pete Pistone- NASCAR

RapidReports
This news feature is updated in real time on cbssports.com consisting of 32 correspondents in each NFL city to report the news as it happens.

Freshman of the Year
Since 2006, the CBSSports.com Freshman of the Year award is given yearly to the top college football newcomer. Previous Winners
 * 2010 - Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina
 * 2009 - Dion Lewis, Pitt
 * 2008 - Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State
 * 2007 - Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech
 * 2006 - P.J. Hill, Wisconsin

Traditional Games

 * Free Leagues (NFL,NBA,College Football,MLB)- Comprehensive free game listings aimed at beginners to learn popular fantasy games. First-timers and inexperienced users can experience the nuances of fantasy sports and master all the great features CBSSports.com Fantasy Football. Free leagues are not eligible for league champion prizes. The College Football game is the only one available on a major sports website.
 * Premium Leagues (NFL,NBA,MLB)- The pay games offer better competition with the chance to win league prizes for the more dedicated and experienced players.
 * Commissioner Leagues (NFL,NBA,College Football,MLB)- Customizable league settings

Challenge Games/Brackets

 * NFL Game Pick 'em Contest- Pick the winners of every NFL each week competing against experts or friends.
 * Franchise Football- Build a football franchise on Facebook
 * Office Pool Manager- Choose picks with spreads, confidence weighting or in a survivor format
 * College Bowl Pick' Em- Pick the Bowl game winners & get a chance to win the $10,000 Grand Prize
 * Bracket Manager- Men's college basketball tournament bracket competition
 * Round by Round Brackets- With each new round of the tournament, Round by Round brackets brings a new chance to make picks and win cash.

Awards from Fantasy Sports Trade Association(FSTA)

 * 2001 Best Fantasy Football League Manager- CBS SportsLine.com commissioner
 * 2001 Best Fantasy Football Big Business of the Year
 * 2002 Best Fantasy Football League Manager
 * 2002 Best Fantasy Baseball Commissioner Service
 * 2003 Best Fantasy Baseball League Manager
 * 2004 Best Commissioner
 * 2004 Best Online Marketing Campaign
 * 2006 Best Online Service
 * 2008 Best Draft Style Contest
 * 2009 Best Fantasy Commissioner League Management Product
 * 2009 Best Online/Mock Draft Room
 * Lifetime Achievement Award- SportsLine.com Commissioner

Fantasy Writers

 * Jamey Eisenberg
 * Sergio Gonzalez
 * Michael Hurcomb
 * Jeff Lippman
 * Al Melchior
 * Dave Richard
 * Scott White
 * Nando Di Fino