By: Staff reports Sports Makes Its Entr?e Into Alternative News Site
Newcity.com became more than an alternative news portal this week when
it bought Webby Award-nominated Sportsjones.com, a deal that has been
in negotiations for the past few months.
As the Sportsjones.com operation moves to its new owner's Chicago
headquarters, Royce Webb, founder, editor, and publisher of
SportsJones, has already moved in and started to integrate daily sports
coverage into Newcity.com's network. Staff members from Sportsjones'
Nashville, Tenn., office will follow shortly. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed.
Newcity.com has grown quickly in the past year signing on alternative
newspapers and Webzines for a total of 67 affiliates, including 49
alternative newspapers and 18 Web sites. Two of the Web site affiliates
besides SportsJones have also been nominated for Webby Awards: UtneCafe
and Disinformation.
So far, the alternative press has left sports coverage to the likes of
ESPN and FoxSports. But Brian Hieggelke, president of Newcity.com,
says, 'Sports is a core area of interest for our young adult audience,
yet one of the weakest coverage areas in the alternative press.'
SportsJones steps up as the sports news site that delves into the
intricacies of competition and the mind-sets of the players, says
Hieggelke. And he sees no reason why alternative papers shouldn't pick
up on this formula.
Hieggelke wants to assemble a sub-network of sports sites that covers
regional areas in a similar style to SportsJones' distinct tone. Until
now, Newcity.com has functioned as a network hub for alternative sites,
but with the increased content creation, Hieggelke hopes that cross-
pollinating will occur between the affiliates and the site.
Hieggelke is relishing his new role as a content provider and even
predicts a sports column for syndication that could be picked up by
affiliates. It might even be a SportsJones' humor column, 'Diane's NCAA
Prognostications,' in which comedienne Shelley Long predicted the
NCAA winners - in the voice of Diane Chambers, star of the now-defunct
TV sitcom 'Cheers.'
An example of Diane's picks:
'Orangemen vs. Cyclones: I should have stated earlier that the nickname
Orangemen doesn't refer to the followers of William of Orange,
Protestants who supported Britain's colonial rule in Ireland and who
are known today as Ulstermen. I hope that's clear now. No matter how
big, round, or orange your head is, a cyclone will you spin you right
round baby right round like a record baby right round right round.
Cyclones win.'
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