ESPN.com Local Sites

How many of the ESPN sites are linked to radio stations that Disney/ABC owns? Thought I read somewhere that was one of the most important criteria for a local site.

And as someone who does not live in a market where there is a site how does their staffing compare to the local daily? They seem to have beat writers for NFL, MLB and NBA and I suppose the NHL but do they cover as many colleges as the big, metro daily? I would assume that do not cover stories about local bowling tournaments or the local racetrack at all but what about preps?

 

You could so work for ESPNCleveland

 

Finally! Someone I can use as a reference!

 

My understanding is that ESPN is holding off on any further local sites because they haven't figured out how to make a lot of money from them.

If they did want to go to Washington, the Washington Times would not be an impediment or even be discussed.

If they go to Florida, the thinking has been more ESPN.Florida.com than ESPN.Miami.com, with a view toward covering the whole state (to take advantage of interest in Gators, especially).

 

As far as I know, there are no plans in place to expand. No Miami, no Cleveland (sorry, Ace!).

(Fran beat me to it)

 

They're going to be opening an ESPNDeportes.com local site in Los Angeles, according to USA Today.

 

I've heard ESPN Bismark is in the works, but that may just be the cows talking.

 

That would be the only place that makes sense in Florida. A few of the bigger towns are college-only; Jacksonville only cares about the Jags; and everyone in Tampa just wants to read about the NY teams.

 

Jacksonville is Gator Country. They don't give two craps about the Jags.

 

Actually, yeah, that's true. Either way, Miami is the only decent-sized city in the state with a large amount of interest in more than one in-state team.

 

Go look at how many other ESPN(cityname) web sites have been registered. I did that a couple of years ago, and it was quite a few at that time.