Feb

27

ESPN to launch Chicago sports site

Filed Under Sports Business News, Sports Media 

Earlier this week, ESPN announced that it will launch a new website dedicated to covering Chicago sports. The sport media empire decided that it wanted to start targeting sports fans in specific markets and what better city to start with than Chicago. ESPNChicago.com will be the first of these local sports sites, but ESPN is hoping that it won’t be the last.

“We already have a user base with millions of people coming to [ESPN.com] looking for Chicago sports,” Horine said. “At its core, the mission is simple: to super-serve Chicago sports fans.”

In addition to sports news, the site will have social-networking aspects, a travel partnership and even a way to organize your local softball team.

And like the cable channel, ESPN Chicago will feature its own “SportsCenter”-style newscast with a three- to five-minute highlight reel of the day’s top stories. It will have original content and include breaking news, provided by Chicago’s WLS-Ch. 7. The ABC affiliate and ESPN are both owned by The Walt Disney Co.

ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski, a former Chicago Tribune sportswriter, will write for the site. Other ESPN contributors will write for the Chicago site, as will ESPN 1000 radio personalities Tom Waddle and Bruce Levine.

To be honest, I guess I’m surprised that this is the first time a major media outlet has created a website solely dedicated to a single region’s sports coverage. The Huffington Post created a Chicago local site last summer with blog posts and aggregated news feeds of stories central to the area. MillerCoors will be the charter advertiser for the ESPN Chicago website to get it up and running. It will certainly be interesting to see how users are attracted to the website and if it becomes a popular go-to website for Chicago sports fans.

Comments

4 Responses to “ESPN to launch Chicago sports site”

  1. Brian Gleason on February 27th, 2009 10:30 am

    This is very interesting, I’m curious to see how quickly they move on to other cities. My company is just starting the process of local sites for campaigns in different regions.

    I’ll also be interested to see if people catch on and remember to go to their cities dedicated site when they’re just so used to going to espn.com. I’m the sites will be very intertwined.

  2. Marcus Andrews on February 27th, 2009 10:35 am

    Im a huge Chicago sports fan and a journalism eliteist. The ESPN Chicago website will be a treat. The charecter and expirence of good writing will be appreciated in Chi. I’m excited to see what social media elements they will add to the site. Bear Down!
    -MA
    @Mandrews33

  3. Jessica Felten on February 27th, 2009 11:27 am

    I think this is a pretty interesting idea, in a way Chicago already has this with sites such as Mouthpiece Sports which is “Chicago Sports News.” However, once the ESPN site comes out, I have a hunch that it won’t be much of a competition. But, I think this will be a great place for all Chicago sports fans to come together and talk about what’s on our mind, even if you are a few thousand miles away. I’m excited :)

  4. Jeff on April 22nd, 2009 1:30 pm

    This is an interesting idea, but I am surprised they picked Chicago over New York (Maybe because the current ESPN is pretty much ESPN New York anyway. I think they are using it as an experiment, and if it works they will probably try to create a multiple-city online network.

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