As a sports physical therapist by trade, the former president and part-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, and currently the Commissioner of Slamball, and a serial entrepreneur, I have been a sports enthusiast and businessman all my life. During my career, I have witnessed numerous changes that have either detracted from or improved the fan experience, but none approaches the changes we are witnessing today, everyday online. Indeed, the Internet has made being a sports fan more fun than ever before.
Back in 1996, when I took over the 76ers, NBC AND TNT were the only networks carrying coverage of our games. If you didn’t get home in time to see the game or you weren’t a cable subscriber, you had to wait for the evening’s news broadcast or read the story in the paper the following day. Your interaction as a fan was limited to watching your team on television or buying a ticket to see the game in person. Occasionally, you could catch your favorite player at a book signing or a press conference, but generally these events were controlled and carefully orchestrated by the team or the TV network.
Today you have access to more information about your favorite teams than ever before. There are social networks like Facebook with fan communities that have members from all over the world. Chat rooms allow you to engage in an open, passionate dialogue with fellow fanatics any time, anywhere.
And then there are the bloggers. Millions of people providing a totally different perspective than the local newspaper or nightly news sports segment. Even the sports network giant, ESPN, has limited time and space devoted to your specific team.
An early pioneer in the sports blogosphere was a guy named Eric McErlaine. A sports fanatic! Eric launched his sports blog Off Wing Opinion in 2002 as a way to gab about the latest game and interact with other sports fans on the Net. Eric’s blog was later named to Forbes’ Best of the Web in 2003 and received widespread acclaim from the National Review, Newsweek and Rolling Stone magazine. In August 2006, Eric joined AOL’s online sports blogging community, AOL FanHouse, as a contributor and in April 2007 was named lead blogger for the website.
Eric’s coverage of sports news and games is immediate. He even includes photos from the game and most recently he and his colleagues at AOL FanHouse have been using Redlasso and other online video search sites to embed video clips on their site, creating their own version of SportsCenter.
Eric is emphatic about the need for sports video clips on the site: “It’s essential. It’s vital.” He relayed that when New York Rangers’ Sean Avery’s ankle was slashed in the Penguins playoff game, there was no video available of the incident which aired exclusively on NBC Channel 4 in New York. Eric visited Redlasso where he downloaded the clip, making AOL FanHouse the only website carrying coverage of the incident outside of the New York metro area. “You have so many cities to cover and not every city gets online. With Redlasso, I can find, clip and post everything within a matter of minutes so fans across the country can see their favorite team in near real-time.”
Off Wing Opinion and AOL FanHouse aren’t the only blogs providing near real-time sports coverage and commentary. Sporting News has its own sporting blog. There are even niche sites like HockeyFights.com that indulge our fascination with on-ice fights complete with video clips and live commentary.
The truth is: everyone wants to be a Monday morning quarterback. The Internet and blogs allow us to do that, connecting us with millions of our fellow fans to share opinions, gloat or even gripe about the latest game. (You know what they say: Misery loves company!) The result has been a better overall fan experience and interaction than ever before. And this is only the beginning. I hope that our sports teams and sports media embrace our online brethren. They may just sell a ticket or two.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 7:13 am by Pat Croce
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June 1st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Hey Pat!
As a blogger with the privilege of hosting my own internet radio show, it is encouraging to see someone such as yourself support the cause. You were gracious enough to grant me an interview for my show and just wanted to let you know that I will be airing it tomorrow night(June 2nd). It was an honor being able to speak with you on everything you’re involved with and I just wanted to wish you continued success in all your future projects!