What makes a great sports site? It is a website created and run by the very League that runs the sport. Most sporting websites have been outsourced to various companies. Those companies focus only on how much money they can make off the fans. That is a formula for failure.
Without a doubt the best sporting website out there is MLB.com. They had the insight to bring their operation in house and to fund it. By doing this, they took the time to address the needs of their hardcore fan base. The next step is they took the time to cultivate casual fans by adding numerous touch points on their website.
One of the most interesting parts of the site has been baseballchannel.tv. They were ahead of the curve when rolling this out for their fans. I am still impressed how many subscribers they get for their content. In a world where everything has to be free or people will move on, MLB.com has defied the norm. My hat goes off to them. As I have stated many times, we (indycar.com) went with the ad driven model. Going from subscription to free, gave us a 400% increase in one day. Just imagine how much more traffic MLB.com would get if anybody could watch it.
This leads to my next point. I watch the World Series every year but don’t watch a single game during the season. I have no connection with the teams or players but enjoy watching the final game. If MLB.com showed games for free, “new fans” like me to follow the games all year. After that, MLB could become America’s game again.
What makes a great sports site? It is a website created and run by the very League that runs the sport. Most sporting websites have been outsourced to various companies. Those companies focus only on how much money they can make off the fans. That is a formula for failure. 
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