USA TODAY Sports Fantasy Baseball League Draft to Be Broadcast Live on Sirius XM Radio This Weekend

Tune in Saturday, March 5^th at 7:00 p.m. ET for the AL & Sunday, March 6^th at 7:00 p.m. ET for the NL

MCLEAN, Va., March 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The 18^th season of USA TODAY's experts fantasy baseball league – the League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR) – will make its broadcast debut this weekend with live coverage on SiriusXM Radio.

SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio will carry the USA TODAY Sports LABR American League and National League drafts live from The Arizona Republic headquarters in Phoenix on Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6 from 7 p.m. to midnight ET. SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (XM channel 147 and Sirius channel 211 with the "Best of XM") will provide live coverage of the drafts with host Kyle Elfrink and analyst Jeff Erickson providing commentary and interviewing the participants.

LABR began in 1994 under the direction of then-Baseball Weekly fantasy columnist John Hunt, who recruited some of the top names in the fledgling fantasy baseball industry to participate. Among them, sabermetrics pioneer Bill James, TV anchor Keith Olbermann and future fantasy sports Hall of Famer Greg Ambrosius. The name LABR was coined by Olbermann and it played on the unsettled labor situation baseball had at the time. Throughout the league's history, only one person -- Ambrosius -- has participated in all 17 seasons.

"We are thrilled that the USA TODAY Sports LABR Draft will be broadcast live on SiriusXM this year. This is a great opportunity for fantasy owners who usually have to anxiously wait for information to leak out through participants' websites. This gives them a chance to follow the draft live as it happens so they can get insights on draft strategy directly from the owners themselves," said Monte Lorell, USA TODAY sports editor.

The 2011 USA TODAY Sports LABR Draft lineups are (in order of 2010 finish):

Fantasy owners can follow the drafts and see the team rosters online by going to USA TODAY's Fantasy Windup blog (fantasywindup.usatoday.com) or USA TODAY's fantasy baseball home page (fantasybaseball.usatoday.com).

USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website  launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than seven million downloads on mobile devices.  The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

SOURCE USA TODAY