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ESPN Dallas.com Launch

I

ISaidSo

Guest
So ESPN's take over (Very Walmart of them) Continues... The launch of ESPN Dallas.com will include local writers Tim McMahon, Calvin Watkins, and Richard "Couldn't get a job at The fan" Durrett...In the other markets they have done this it has put the sqeeze on the local papers that now lean on Internet readers. Thoughts?
 
Let the ink stained wretches grovel at the feat of the national content provider. Print is dead.

Besides, the FWST is owned by a national corporation and the DMN is part of a locally owned corporation which owns papers in other parts of the nation.

In other words, if ESPN buries the local rags, it will be one national company beating two other national companies. This ain't Wal-Mart vs the local mom and pop outfit.
 
ISaidSo said:
So ESPN's take over (Very Walmart of them) Continues... The launch of ESPN Dallas.com will include local writers Tim McMahon, Calvin Watkins, and Richard "Couldn't get a job at The fan" Durrett...In the other markets they have done this it has put the sqeeze on the local papers that now lean on Internet readers. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

So did those guys leave the Dallas Morning News???
 
Their homepage still says "coming soon". Perhaps they're launching in conjunction with the game tomorrow.
 
I don't see this as much competition for the Ticket or any local radio station. It's a bigger concern for the papers and TV stations.

Sports Day in the Dallas Morning News is a shadow of its former self. The Morning News website is okay, but it's hard to find the info you want. Good reporting in the paper has been replaced by decent reports on sports blogs on the website.

Put another way, the bar is low for ESPN. They don't have to do much to do better than the Morning News. The bigger question is whether they'll hurt the local TV stations. Again, the bar there is pretty low. Local TV stations are all but eliminating sports. Local TV stations are trying to do more sports on the web, but it is generally pathetic and farmed out to some 3rd party that provides meager local information.

The way for the Morning News and others to beat ESPN is to hire more people, focus on local sports and promote it well.

Local TV news can stem the losses by re-evaluating what they cover too. Last night was a great example: TCU beat Clemson on the road. UNT hosted a game. Channel 4 put highlights of those games waaaaay down deep in their sports cast. Highlights of UT, Baylor, Nebraska, Texas Tech, etc.. all played before any highlights of the two local division 1 schools. This is insane. There are more fans of TCU, SMU, and UNT in this market than any of those other schools. I'm not saying you don't run the UT highlights up high, but I am saying you should focus on the local schools a lot more than UT. Failure to properly cover local sports will result in viewers looking elsewhere for local sports coverage. That's what's happening now. Rather than understand this problem, the bean counters have decided people aren't all that interested in sports and so they cut the sports budgets even more. It has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 
Nobody cares what TCU, UNT, or SMU does... Check the stands... You lead with the teams that people care about. BTW, there are many more Texas fans in DFW then TCU, SMU, and UNT combined.
 
Site is up. Have to admit looks pretty good. Newspaper sites are in trouble... Only draw back...Tim McMahon. That dude sucks. And thinks his way to startdom is by being a Cowboy hater. Lets see if that continues. Also, why does ESPN need Mosley now that they have guys for each city? Just wondering....
 
It does look pretty good. One question though..Why is their transmitter in Allen? That's a ways north and sometimes people in the southern counties (Johnson, Ellis, Navarro) cant hear them?
 
sox fan matt said:
It does look pretty good. One question though..Why is their transmitter in Allen? That's a ways north and sometimes people in the southern counties (Johnson, Ellis, Navarro) cant hear them?
Click to expand...

Because ABC had to move in KEMM 103.3 from Commerce to get the station on the air. Thats the closest they could get their stick.
 
I disagree, ISaidSo. TCU in particular has a decent following, particularly due to their success over the past decade. They'll never have an alumni base like UT, A&M or Tech, but they still generate interest - and game attendance has been up in recent years. UNT and SMU could find the same rise in interest level if they start to win on a regular basis again.
 
The DMN is bringing back Evan Grant and Gerry Fraley in order to compete with ESPN Dallas dot com. Sad to see Evan leave his great blog at Inside Corner, but competition is making everyone better.
 
My point was there is not enough interest to create the need for anymore coverage. 35,000 at a game, Not paid mind you, but 35,000 is a very low number for a top 20 team in a major market. Only time they get close to a sell out is when they play a Major Conference team from Texas... Nobody here really cares. Not to mention that they get passed over often for Bowls they deserve and have to go to lesser Bowls because they travel so poorly. (Meaning few fans go with the team on the road) They may play pretty good football at TCU, but when nobody cares does it really matter?
 
{Soap Box}

Would it have killed them to call it ESPN DFW dot com considering two of our four major sports teams are in Dallas and two are in Tarrant County? Yes, they're both in Arlington (and the Dallas Cowboys will always be the DALLAS Cowboys), but I think ESPN DFW dot com sounds better than ESPN Dallas-Arlington dot com. :)

{/Soap Box}
 
The funniest part is Cuban ripping his own flagship station!!! They put up the new site beg you to go to it then don't even send reporters to the events? The story they have on there now about the Mavs is an AP story! They have nobody to cover Stars and refuse to pay the guys who have been there to cover the events... My favorite was listening to Irvin talk about the Cowboys Monday night game that he didn't even see because he was too busy dancing! No wonder a Sports start-up has already caught them! Bristol you listening? You need new managment......
 
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