ESPN Tournament Challenge 2012

ESPN Tournament Challenge 2012, Verizon and ESPN have launched a new interactive way for fans to build and follow tournament brackets during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Through the ESPN “Tournament Challenge” TV app, Verizon FiOS TV customers can access and edit their tournament brackets right from their televisions, tablets, computers and wireless phones — throughout the tournament.

(http://bit.ly/wc2ru2 to download and embed the video.)

Building on the successful integration of the ESPN Fantasy Football in the fall, ESPN and Verizon collaborated to bring fans a new experience to follow all the exciting hoops action on a variety of platforms.

“The Borderless Lifestyle is about breaking down old technology boundaries and freeing consumers to enjoy entertainment on their own terms,” said Angie Klein, vice president of product management for Verizon. “The ‘Tournament Challenge’ app is another way to interact with TV, providing a game-changing entertainment experience that only FiOS TV customers can enjoy this tournament season.

Matt Murphy, senior vice president, digital video distribution, Disney and ESPN Media Networks, said, “Verizon’s commitment to improving the TV user experience and bringing Internet functionality to all screens served as a catalyst for integrating ‘Tournament Challenge’ across the many platforms available to Verizon FiOS customers.”

Peter Low, chief executive officer of Ensequence, developer of the app, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Verizon and ESPN on developing this innovative branded digital experience. This is another great example of how cross-platform interactivity can drive deeper engagement with television audiences.”

The Verizon TV app will provide instant on-screen access to the viewer’s personalized ESPN bracket throughout the tournament. Users can create and check their brackets anytime by clicking on the “Widgets” button on the FiOS TV remote control, selecting “FiOS TV Widgets,” and selecting the ESPN Tournament Challenge icon under the Featured, Sports and Games categories.

Tournament Challenge

Tournament Challenge, March Madness is here! And that means it’s time for Chicagoist’s annual Tournament Challenge, where we give you a chance to compete against your fellow Chicagoist readers and staffers in our NCAA Tournament pool. It’s free to play, and there’s still a prize for the winning reader—plus bragging rights that are way more impressive than just winning your office pool.

But it’s not easy to win. With over 100 entries the past few years, the recent winners have also beaten at least 99.8 percent of all ESPN brackets.

Last year, c. figgins’ BSY NATION bracket took home the prize in a wild tournament that saw nobody pick either of the championship game teams to win it all. Personally, we would just be happy finishing in the Sweet Sixteen after 44th and 35th place finishes the past two years.