Bracket Is Required for Web Pool Party

March used to be maddening for Randy Edgar. When the NCAA men’s basketball tournament rolled around, dozens of friends swamped his fax machine with bracket picks for what became known as the “Guru Pool.”

Duty called, so Edgar worked into the night, transferring picks to an Excel spreadsheet, drawing the brackets and faxing the results to about 40 competitors scattered around the country. The advent of e-mail reduced Edgar’s workload, but “it was still horrible,” the Oakland resident said. “I had to [chart] all of the standings after the games and e-mail those out every night.”

The business of picking winners remains challenging, Edgar said, but the annual pool is now a breeze, thanks to a small online company that automates the time-consuming business of charting brackets, scoring point totals and sharing the results with contestants. Said Edgar: “It’s an absolute no-brainer to use.”

The websites -- the equivalent of Christmas tree lots that pop up for a few weeks before the holiday -- hope to turn a profit by making it easier for fans to chart March Madness bracket contests.

There’s no shortage of fans willing to put down a wager.

During last year’s tournament, the Gallup Poll reported that nearly half of men surveyed described themselves as college basketball fans; about a third of women also admitted to March Madness.

Consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas factored the poll results into a formula that estimated lost productivity during the next few weeks at $3.8 billion.

There’s also plenty of cash to fill the office pools.

Any attempt to measure NCAA-related gambling would be “a pure guess because gamblers don’t issue financial statements,” FBI spokesman Bill Carter said. Suffice to say, Carter added, that billions of dollars again will be wagered this year in pools blessed, at least tacitly, by bosses.

Emily Craig, who is running her Louisville, Ky., employer’s office pool for the sixth consecutive year, probably speaks for most office pool operators when she describes the annual exercise as more about team-building than gambling. “I ask the man who owns our company every year ...” said Craig, who added that her boss is usually the first one to hand over a completed bracket after Selection Sunday.

Athletes, coaches, referees and others with the ability to influence the outcome of a game clearly have no business placing bets, said Michael Josephson, president of Los Angeles’ Josephson Institute of Ethics. But is March Madness with a monetary interest a bad thing?

“Gambling isn’t a good habit to start, but betting in an office pool when it’s in moderate amounts is a legitimate form of entertainment,” Josephson said. “It’s like the company picnic in that it’s fun to see who guesses right, who moves up the ladder. We shouldn’t try to make more out of it than what it is.”

But he draws a line when it comes to newspapers, radio and television stations, and websites to relay Las Vegas point spreads on NCAA games.

As for the NCAA, it continues to push for a world in which amateur athletes are appreciated solely for their talent, not as fodder for a wager. “The message we’re trying to send is that money doesn’t have to be involved for our tournament and our games to be fun,” said Rachel Newman-Baker, the NCAA’s director of agents, gambling and amateurism activities.

The NCAA has asked FBI agents to counsel all players on the 16 teams that make it to regional play in the men’s and women’s tournaments about the dangers of gambling. But although the agency continues to target gambling rings run by organized crime, the FBI has “neither the resources nor the inclination” to police office pools where the entry fee is just a couple of bucks.

That’s good news for operators of the online companies that promise to help office pool organizers get their job done.

Pickhoops.com, which Edgar has used for the last two years, charges $9.95 for an application that allows the 40 Guru Pool contestants to enter their data online and incorporates the group’s quirky scoring system.

“It really is March Madness for us,” said Chris Hehman, president of the Durham, N.C., site, which is handling the Guru Pool for the second year. “We get a trickle of business starting in January, but most of it comes during a two-week period.”

The small companies are competing in the considerable online shadow cast by ESPN.com, CBSSportsline.com and other big, sports-oriented websites that have have been touting their free bracket games for weeks.

The lure is prizes rather than gambling, however. ESPN, for example, is offering $10,000 to the first-place finisher.

CDM Fantasy Sports, a St. Louis company known for its fantasy sports league products, concentrates its online bracket games at the Elite Eight level.

“We wanted to have a different spin and not compete head to head with the free games,” said CDM Executive Vice President John Brison.

Smaller companies also add bells and whistles that the big, free bracket games can’t afford to offer. They also cater to the needs of office personnel charged with running the office pool.

“Everything had to be hand-scored the first year,” Craig said. “It was so monotonous and it took so much energy that I couldn’t even enjoy watching the games.”

The next year, she went online to find a better alternative.

Bracket management firms do deliver boilerplate language that cautions fans against using the online products in pools where money changes hands. ESPN.com, which offers set prizes and does not charge an entry fee, states that its game is “strictly for entertainment purposes, and may not be used in connection with any form of gambling.”

Hehman notes that his service initially was created to run his employer’s office pool, which was blessed by top management as an exercise in corporate teambuilding.

“We didn’t start this up because of the money,” he said. “So we’re clearly trying hard to make sure that we’re on the right side of the law. But the laws in the different states are all over the place, so it’s a big mess.”

The office pool websites also are a sign that online sports is a big and growing business.

Websense Inc., a San Diego firm that provides Internet filtering services for corporations, estimates that the number of sports-related websites mushroomed by 61% in the last year to 471,500.

Five sports websites were among the biggest traffic gainers last year, according to comScore Media Metrix, a Reston, Va., consumer research company.

March Madness regularly proves to be one of the biggest attractions in the online sporting world. Last year, CBSSportsline.com and ESPN.com posted at least double-digit growth in March over February totals -- and NCAA.com’s traffic soared by 500% over the previous month.

Still, some of the smaller bracket-operating companies fear that they’ll run afoul of the NCAA, which struggles each year to police illegal uses of its trademarks.

One pool operator initially talked freely about his bracket management business, which grew from a hobby to a full-time job. But after being asked about the NCAA’s interests, he developed cold feet and asked not to be named.

“I’m simultaneously disappointed and relieved not to be included in the article,” the owner said.

“Although I am probably unnecessarily concerned about hearing from the NCAA ... I don’t want to take any chances.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

NCAA TV guide

THURSDAY

CBS will have continuous first-round coverage from 9:40 a.m. to 9 p.m. while concentrating on five of the 16 games. CBS will have whip-around coverage of other games when possible. Channel 2 on Tuesday was granted two changes in what the network had planned for Southern California.

The new Channel 2 schedule (times app.):

* 9:40 a.m. -- Boston College vs. Pacific

* 11:40 a.m. -- Marquette vs. Alabama

* 1:55 p.m. -- UCLA vs. Belmont

* 4:20 p.m. -- Gonzaga vs. Xavier

* 6:45 p.m. -- Washington vs. Utah State

FRIDAY

Coverage will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., then pick up again at 4:20 p.m. and run until 9 p.m. Four of the 16 games will be highlighted.

The Channel 2 schedule:

* 9:30 a.m. -- Arizona vs. Wisconsin

* 11:35 a.m. -- West Virginia vs. S. Illinois

* 4:20 p.m. -- California vs. N.C. State

* 6:45 p.m. -- Kentucky vs. Ala. Birmingham

(Note: The schedule for CBS high-definition channels varies slightly from the regular broadcast schedule because not all games will be televised in HD.)

WEEKEND

CBS will highlight four of the eight second-round games on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and three of the eight second-round games on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

PAY TV PACKAGE

Games not listed above and others that are not featured by CBS through the first three rounds -- up to 37 games -- will be available to DirecTV subscribers through the satellite TV service’s Mega March Madness package. Cost is $59.

NEW MEDIA

For the first time, games will be available for viewing on the Internet free of charge, although a traffic overload could cause delays. The site: ncaasports.com/mmod.

A condensed version of all games will be available to be downloaded on iPods the day after they are played through itunes.com. The cost of the complete package is $19.99.

CSTV, a sister network of CBS, will be offering supplemental coverage throughout the tournament, including one-hour highlight shows at the conclusion of game days.

Sprint is offering a video package of game updates, analysis, breaking news and interviews for its mobile-phone customers. Former CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein is the studio host.

RADIO

L.A. station 1540 will be offering coverage from the WestwoodOne/CBS Radio network.

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

The first two rounds of the women’s tournament will be played Saturday through Tuesday. ESPN and ESPN2 will present all 48 games in 12 telecast windows in a whip-around format. For out-of-market telecasts, there is the ESPN Full Court pay package. For those who are not already subscribers, a half-season package costs $79.99, although some outlets offer a per-day fee of $12.99.

-- LARRY STEWART

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NCAA men’s basketball tournament

First-round games on Thursday, Friday (all times Pacific):

WASHINGTON REGIONAL

Thursday

at Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, N.C.

* No. 7 Wichita State (24-8) vs. No. 10 Seton Hall (18-11), 9:20 a.m.

* No. 2 Tennessee (21-7) vs. No. 15 Winthrop (23-7), 11:40 a.m.

at Cox Arena, San Diego

* No. 4 Illinois (25-6) vs. No. 13 Air Force (24-6), 4:25 p.m.

* No. 5 Washington (24-6) vs. No. 12 Utah State (23-8), 6:45 p.m.

Friday

at UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio

* No. 6 Michigan State (22-11) vs. No. 11 George Mason (23-7), 4:10 p.m.

* No. 3 North Carolina (22-7) vs. No. 14 Murray State (24-6), 6:30 p.m.

at the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia

* No. 1 Connecticut (27-3) vs. No. 16 Albany, N.Y. (21-10), 4:25 p.m.

* No. 8 Kentucky (21-12) vs. No. 9 Alabama Birmingham (24-6), 6:45 p.m.

ATLANTA REGIONAL

Thursday

at Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, N.C.

* No. 8 George Washington (26-2) vs. No. 9 N.C. Wilmington (25-7), 4:10 p.m.

* No. 1 Duke (30-3) vs. No. 16 Southern (19-12), 6:30 p.m.

at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Fla.

* No. 4 LSU (23-8) vs. No. 13 Iona (23-7), 4:10 p.m.

* No. 5 Syracuse (23-11) vs. No. 12 Texas A&M; (21-8), 6:40 p.m.

Friday

at American Airlines Center, Dallas

* No. 7 California (20-10) vs. No. 10 N.C. State (21-9), 4:20 p.m.

* No. 2 Texas (27-6) vs. No. 15 Pennsylvania (20-8), 6:40 p.m.

at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mich.

* No. 3 Iowa (25-8) vs. No. 14 Northwestern State (25-7), 9:25 a.m.

* No. 6 West Virginia (20-10) vs. No. 11 Southern Illinois (22-10), 11:45 a.m.

MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL

Thursday

at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Fla.

* No. 6 Oklahoma (20-8) vs. No. 11 Wisconsin Milwaukee (21-8), 9:25 a.m.

* No. 3 Florida (27-6) vs. No. 14 South Alabama (24-6), 11:45 a.m.

at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City

* No. 4 Boston College (26-7) vs. No. 13 Pacific (24-7), 9:40 a.m.

* No. 5 Nevada (27-5) vs. No. 12 Montana (23-6), noon

Friday

at UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio

* No. 2 Ohio State (25-5) vs. No. 15 Davidson (20-10), 9:15 a.m.

* No. 7 Georgetown (21-9) vs. No. 10 Northern Iowa (23-9), 11:35 a.m.

at the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia

* No. 8 Arizona (19-12) vs. No. 9 Wisconsin (19-11), 9:30 a.m.

* No. 1 Villanova (25-4) vs. No. 16 Monmouth (19-14),11:50 a.m.

OAKLAND REGIONAL

Thursday

at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City

* No. 3 Gonzaga (27-3) vs. No. 14 Xavier (21-10), 4:20 p.m.

* No. 6 Indiana (18-11) vs. No. 11 San Diego State (24-8), 6:40 p.m.

at Cox Arena, San Diego

* No. 7 Marquette (20-10) vs. No. 10 Alabama (17-12), 11:40 a.m.

* No. 2 UCLA (27-6) vs. No. 15 Belmont (20-10), 1:55 p.m.

Friday

at American Airlines Center, Dallas

* No. 8 Arkansas (22-9) vs. No. 9 Bucknell (26-4), 9:30 a.m.

* No. 1 Memphis (30-3) vs. No. 16 Oral Roberts (21-11), 11:50 a.m.

at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mich.

* No. 5 Pittsburgh (24-7) vs. No. 12 Kent State (25-8), 4:10 p.m.

* No. 4 Kansas (25-7) vs. No. 13 Bradley (20-10), 6:30 p.m.