Bob's blog

Sports and the new web

I went to a very interesting ny:mieg panel Wednesday morning - thankfully, it was interesting since it started very early in New York City. The panel talked about "Enhancing the Sports Fan Experience" and featured speakers from College Fanz, The NFL Network, CSTV, Kickapps and NEP Broadcasting. The panelists all had experience with sports broadcasting and bring a unique perspective to building sports communities on the web.

Bill Rasmussen, founder of ESPN and now College Fanz had a great perspective on providing a place for fans to gather, cheer and celebrate or scream at their favorite teams. It was said that there's more passion around sports than other topics and I believe that it continues to be true. According to Rasmussen, that's especially true for college sports because there's such a long affiliation with the school. Today's professional sports teams can change players or even cities, but once you've attended a school - it's your alma mater for life. That not only gives a long time period that people follow a college sports program but a continually growing audience.

I've seen this with sports in general, whether it's MLB , NFL, NHL or Cricket. Sports websites in general drive tremendous traffic and visitor loyalty. The ability to follow your favorite teams and players while receiving updated scores and stats is a great resource for both the casual fan and fanatic. Fantasy leagues, statistical tracking and community building are all driven by the content on these sports sites. New communities like College Fanz only help to extend the attraction. Sports fans will always find places to congregate and celebrate, these sites give them a virtual destination to call home.

Posted at 05:57PM Sep 15, 2007 by bs in Web.next  |