Add ESPN to the list of national news outlets positioning themselves to capitalize on the demise of local newspapers. The "Worldwide Leader in Sports" this week launched
ESPNChicago.com, a Web site devoted to the Chicago sports scene. The site will feature a daily Chicago version of "Sportscenter," ESPN's signature sports news show, and contributions from ESPN columnists and radio personalities with ties to the city.
ESPN hopes ESPNChicago.com will be the first of a series of new sites that will deepen its online penetration in local markets, following an increasingly popular approach for major content providers. Having already built a national audience of devotees of a particular topic, some publishers are targeting subgroups linked by geography and civic pride.
The Huffington Post, the left-leaning news site that enjoyed a surge in popularity during the presidential campaign, late last year began rolling out local sites beginning, incidentally, with Chicago. A Huffington Post spokesman said the launch "has gone very well" and several more cities will be added over the next 12 months. The Web site Politico has beefed up its staff recently to cover more local politics and sell it to understaffed newspapers in those cities.
This local or regional expansion is far from a can't-miss strategy, particularly in an advertising recession. McGraw-Hill's BusinessWeek magazine last June ceased publication of "BusinessWeek Chicago" — What is it about Chicago? - less than a year after launch. For ESPN, Chicago makes sense for two key reasons: It's a city of passionate sports fans where the local papers have been crippled by the industry's revenue drain. The Chicago Tribune's owner, Tribune Co., in December filed for bankruptcy protection because of its crushing debt, and the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times has been drastically cutting costs to stem losses and avoid a similar fate.
At least one advertiser is already sold on ESPN's idea. MillerCoors has signed on as the site's charter advertiser.
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