Website: www.draftexpress.com

Interview with: Jonathan Givony

How many founders does DraftExpress have and what are their names?

Two, Jonathan Givony and Prerak Shah (who got out fairly quickly)

What are the founders background and qualifications?

We were college students at the time. Just hoop fanatics. Basketball dorks.

What does your website do?

We’re a scouting service that tracks the top players in the world outside of the NBA, and provides comprehensive info and scouting reports on them. Most media outlets talk about teams, we talk about individual players. We mostly deal with NCAA, International, High School, D-League, and also some scattered NBA and Summer League coverage. We do a lot of traveling to all the major scouting events in the US and overseas, and have established a pretty big network of contacts from all over the industry.

When did you launch?

December of 2003.

Has it been easy or difficult to build your community?

That’s all relative I guess. Easy considering that there was obviously a need for a niche site like ours (so things got going pretty fast), but certainly difficult in the fact that we all put an incredible amount of time, money and effort into making our service #1 and by a huge margin.

What types of marketing have you done?

Internet message boards were big for us. Also I partnered up with different sites on the internet to provide NBA draft content for them (like Hoopshype.com for example), and in return they gave us a tremendous amount of exposure. Media outlets picking up our stuff helped a lot, but word of mouth and Google were probably the biggest factors.

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

Advertising is the main one. Some of us do private consulting work for teams on the side, but that’s not part of DraftExpress. Our ad provider at the moment is Tribal Fusion.

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

Self funded.

Are you currently looking for funding?

Not really.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

The fact that every word we’ve written about a player is all tracked in his individual player profile. So for some players, you can track their evolution from the scouting reports we did for them in high school, through their time in college, and then even through the professional ranks.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

We work with an online video service called Synergy Sports Technology, which is a website-accessed, on-demand video scouting service and end-to-end professional solution used by 23 of 30 NBA teams. They have tens of thousands of games (NBA, NCAA, International, much more)–from the past three years– logged according to professional criteria, and presented in a variety of ways, to allow video intake in a matter of seconds. It allows users to watch full games very efficiently: without time-outs, half-time, dead ball situations, free throw attempts or point guard slowly bringing ball up-court, and allows users to watch powerful automated edits to focus on any aspect of a player’s game, such as pick & rolls, post-ups, isolations, spot-ups, offensive rebounds, transitions, and more.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

Teams are going to get a lot smarter in the way they work over the next few years. They are currently spending a lot of money working in a not-very efficient manner when it comes to their draft scouting, and I think that they are going to get better and better with the way they work, thanks to the web, very soon.

STN’s Take:

For those of you who are interested in NBA prospects, DraftExpress is a must visit. The fact that these guys travel around the world to scout players shows their dedication. After perusing the site very briefly we can see the top college freshmen and the projected draft positions for next years NBA draft based on the current standings. These rankings are great information. We also like the feature that allows us to track a certain player and get updates when any new news is written about them. Right now OJ Mayo is the most tracked player. A site like this can definitely help project who the fan favorites in the NBA are going to be as long as they succeed and it looks like OJ Mayo can be one of those guys.

Website: www.metsblog.com

Interview With: Matt Cerrone

When did you start Mets Blog, and why?

I started MetsBlog.com as a project in a digital media class in college. When the class ended, I stopped writing it. In the weeks that followed, I received a number of emails from people outside the class that had been reading it asking me why I had stopped. I figured, there is an audience here, and I enjoy it, so I’ll keep it going. I think I had 100 readers back then. Today, the site consistently reaches 70,000 hits in a given day, which continues to surprise me.

What is your background?

Prior to making MetsBlog.com a full-time job in 2006, I worked as a communication strategist for politicians, authors and entertainers.

Do you blog for fun or are you trying to make it a career?

I blog for fun, and it’s my full-time job. I don’t like to think in terms of ‘career,’ because it suggests a specific path in life, and I prefer to always take the road less traveled.

What is your goal with this blog?

At this point, I’d like to just keep growing my readership. I am very happy with the level of content, the partnerships I have struck, and the relationships I have developed with people in media, with players and with people in baseball. The goal, going forward, is to get the site in front of as many eyes as possible.

What was your tipping point? What put you on the map?

In mid-2005, lots and lots of other Mets blogs were popping up. I made a decision to shift my model, from being an opinion site, to being a navigator, who also provided opinion. The thought was, if I linked outward, made a ton of posts per day, and also gave my opinion on what was being discussed, then the more blogs to pop up around me the better – as long as people came to me first. That worked, thankfully. From that point forward, readership has continued to grow.

What type of blogging software do you use?

I recently switched to WordPress, and I love it.

What ad network(s) do you use?

I recently concluded a two-year agreement with Pajamas Media, which allowed me to make MetsBlog a full-time job, since they pay a guaranteed CPM every quarter. It was a steady, guaranteed check, which is rare in the blogosphere. Prior to PJM I used BlogAds, which is an outstanding company, but who seemingly neglected their network of sports blogs. I never got in to AdSense, Chitika, etc, because the return was too sporadic. I continue to capitalize on text-link ads, as well. Last month I partnered with SportsNet NY, the TV network that airs Mets games, who now gets exclusive access to my graphical ad space.

What are some of your favorite blogs and what are some of your least favorite blogs?

Oddly enough, I don’t read a lot of sports blogs. I mean, of course I read MLB Trade Rumors, Deadspin, and others, but I prefer politics, and enjoy the writing style that occurs on so many of the snarkier pop-culture blogs, all of which do tremendous work. Honestly, I enjoy quality writing. If it’s unique and written well, odds are good that I am a fan.

Now that you have become a full time blogger, what advice would you give to bloggers who have just started and want to make it a full time job?

In terms of general advice, I would simply tell the blogger to be honest. Do not try and be Peter Gammons, and do not try to be a beat writer. The media has plenty of these people. The beauty of blogging is that it is a tool of empowerment – so be honest, be yourself and take advantage of this unique opportunity to express your opinion in a way that only you can.

In terms of technical advice, I would suggest the blogger be simple. There is so much information online, on radio, on television, and so on, that most readers are not looking for something to read, they are, instead, looking for something not to read. By that I mean, most online readers will decide within the first seven seconds whether or not to keep reading a blog post – so make a point and expound on it from there. Don’t try and create some clever lead, or cute metaphor with clever references that attempt to make you sound smarter than you are. If you’re smart, as a reader I will figure it on my own. Give us, the blogosphere, a reason to read you, don’t just assume that we will simply because your words are on the computer screen – because at the end of the day, all the fancy graphics and bells and whistles will not make up for a lack of quality writing and strong content. I want to read what you have to say, but you’ve got to give me a reason to stay.

Any bold predictions for the future of sports on the internet?

It’s going to all depend on where the ad dollars end up. If blogs become more and more profitable, anything can happen. I mean, there is no reason why a Tom Friedman should stay at the New York Times, if he can leave, start his own blog, do exactly the same thing he is doing now, but make 100 times more money from it. I joke with Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com all of the time that he should just be KenRosenthal.com and get it over with. From a fan point of view, I think it’s only natural that a consolidation occur, in that separation will be established between quality, reliable fan blogs, and people just playing around with a computer. Once than truly happens, I would not be surprised to see blogs and TV, or blogs and Radio merge to box out newspapers and magazines even more than they already have been.

STN’s Take,

We probably went back and forth with Matt exchanging about 5 emails, and we can’t believe how much we learned about blogging from him. As you can tell by Matt’s answers, he is very intelligent and coupling that with his passion for the Mets has put him in a great position. As an independent blogger he probably has one of the the best deals around with SportsNet NY. We see many more deals in the future especially since cable companies like Comcast are starting to get into the sports business and they don’t really have a quality web presence.

At first when making our STN Top 25 Sports Blogs, we did not know about Mets Blog but we can pretty much guarantee that Mets Blog will make the list for December. He was very disappointed he didn’t make the list. Actually, not really.

Our one suggestion for Matt where he may be missing out on some money is to have some type of ad at the end of his postings. He may not want do this because he wants to avoid too many ads but that ad location is usually one of the best on the page.

Website: www.sportsjudge.com

Interview With: Marc Edelman

How many founders does Sports Judge have and what are there names?

I am the sole founder of SportsJudge.com. However, a lot of other people contribute to the site including: Matt Cohen (senior deputy justice); Brett Smiley (deputy justice); Ed Gefen (deputy justice emeritus); John O’Malley (senior columnist & director of marketing) Jeremy Mittler (strategy & statistical expert); Michael Miranda (baseball columnist); Joe Romano (hockey columnist); Dave Horowitz (hockey columnist); Parker Gold (basketball columnist); Kent Malmros (logo designer); and Bruce Feinberg (website designer).

What is your background and qualifications?

I am a professor of sports law at New York Law School, Seton Hall University, and Manhattanville College. I also do some consulting in the sports industry. Before entering academia, I practiced sports and antitrust law in New York, NY. I earned my degrees from Michigan Law School and the Wharton School.

What does your website do?

SportsJudge.com is an online fantasy sports arbitration service that uses legal principles to resolve fantasy-sports disputes. Fantasy team owners submit their disputes by email, and within 48 hours they receive a formal, written decision.

When did you launch?

I have been resolving fantasy sports disputes via email since September 2000; however, I had no Internet presence until recently. In January 2005, SportsJudge.net launched as a bare bones dispute-resolution site providing a link to my personal email address. Then, in January 2007, I launched the more comprehensive SportsJudge.com, equipped with some bells and whistles, including a daily-updated blog on fantasy sports strategies.

What is the story behind starting Sports Judge?

In addition to having a traditional legal career, I have been a closet fantasy sports fanatic since 1989. In that year, my father and I co-managed our first fantasy baseball team to the J&J Fantasy Sports Championship. That was back in the days when roster transactions were made through the mail, and trades were made by phone.

Because of my dual expertise—law and fantasy sports—beginning around the year 2000, I began to receive requests from friends to resolve their fantasy sports disputes. Somehow, a cult following ensued. Within a few years, I was receiving unsolicited requests to resolve disputes from fantasy sports contestants throughout the country.

After operating for many years exclusively through word-of-mouth, family and friends began to encourage me to launch a formal website. By this point, I had already developed much case law and was using precedent to decide most cases.

What other websites do you have partnerships with?

SportsJudge.com has two formal partnerships. We serve as the Official Fantasy Dispute Resolution Service for iRoto.com members, and as the Official Fantasy Football League Arbitrator for Fantasy Football Whiz.

We also provide free content to Write on Sports LLC and participate in a public fantasy baseball contest hosted by the New York Daily News’s Jesse Spector.

How many dispute resolutions are you doing on a monthly basis?

It varies significantly from month-to-month. In September 2007, we resolved about 30 disputes from new customers alone. September, however, was an especially busy month.

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

We charge $15 to resolve traditional disputes. Nobody is going to get rich from that kind of cash. However, these fees cover some of our website expenses, as well as dissuade people from sending us spam requests.

We charge substantially more money to perform other services such as drafting league constitutions and hosting live drafts. These other services, however, are only a small part of our overall business.

Google is our ad provider.

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

We are entirely self funded.

Are you looking for more funding?

Funding is always nice; however, we are not willing to sacrifice our core values just for fast cash. Even if we were to accept outside funding, we would want to maintain day-to-day control over the website. We also want to keep the site family friendly.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

Definitely, the five sample opinions. We initially posted these opinions so that potential customers would understand the intricacies of our analysis.

What is the plan for Sports Judge in the future?

The SportsJudge.com launch has enabled me to venture into three new areas. First, I am now working with major corporations to structure fantasy sports contests on their websites. Also, I am beginning to arbitrate real-world disputes between fantasy sports service providers and their customers. Finally, I have accepted the role of outside commissioner to various real-life recreational sports leagues.

As far as the SportsJudge.com itself, our blog content has expanded in content over the months, and we now offer daily columns on fantasy-sports strategy. In January 2008, a group of four medical doctors will join our staff and provide free advice on fantasy sports injuries. That should take the blog to a whole new level.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

A new professional football league called to UFL is planning to launch in 2008. The UFL was founded by financial expert Bill Hambrecht, and Google North America’s President of Advertising and Commerce Tim Armstrong. The league is also supported by Mark Cuban. If the UFL is able to survive its inaugural season, I predict this league will emerge at the forefront in developing new Internet technologies.

STN’s Take:

This is exactly why we created Sports Tech Now. If we just came across Sports Judge in passing we would generally think nothing of it. After interviewing Marc on the phone though, we found out that he is actually doing a ton of dispute resolutions on a monthly basis. We also noticed his amazing passion for fantasy sports and Sports Judge. There is no doubt in my mind that Sports Judge will succeed. They just need a deal with one large sports site to put them over the top along with upping their prices a bit because right now $15 is a steal especially for a high stakes league.

Our only suggestion would be a redesign of his website and to work his blog content into his site.  We know Marc is very professional but at this point don’t think his website is.

Website: www.fastmachines.com

Interview With: Josh Katinger

What made you start Fast Machines?

A general interest in the web and doing some blogging crossed with a real passion for motorsports of all types.

What is your background?

Web development, Internet marketing

Do you blog for fun or are you trying to make it a career? What is your goal with this blog?

Mostly for fun, can’t figure a way to monetize this thing without turning it into a massive advertising portal. Hard to stay true to a vision and monetize at the same time. I’d love to make money with the site, but right now we don’t. All the profits are turned around and reinvested in the site.

What was your tipping point? What put you on the map?

We really took off when our search rankings in Google caught on and especially when our RSS feed got added to MyYahoo!’s default listing of motorsports content.

What type of blogging software do you use?

Currently running MovableType, looking to move to Wordpress (both hosted on our server).

What ad network(s) do you use?

Adsense and Adsense only. Tried Yahoo…not as lucrative.

How much money do you make off your site monthly?

-$200 (yes that’s a negative sign…I lose money on this puppy…a labor of love I think they call it)

Any bold predictions for the future of sports on the internet?

Make sure you visit FastMachines.com in 2025 when we debut our online racing service where you will be able to control real live racing drivers actions from your hand held device.

STN’s Take:

For those of you that are motor sports fans, Fast Machines is a must visit. Josh has done a solid job of bringing a mix of writers together to provide some great content. Its fascinating that they were able to become the default blog for motor sports on the MyYahoo page. Any blogger in any sport would probably give up his right arm for that.

Losing 200 dollars a month is pretty tough though. With all the page views they get, they should be able to monetize their site better. Though Josh may pay his bloggers so that may eat into any revenue. Here are some of our suggestions to increase revenues:

• Create a side bar on the front page and put Google Ads in the upper left.
• On the blog post pages we are not a very big fan of the Ads right next to his logo (may confuse first time readers) so we would like to see the ads above the logo or below the logo and above the blog title blended in.
• A Google Ad at the end of his blog post above the Amazon ad.
• Categorize the articles within the blog post instead of categorizing them in the upper left. That would be another great spot for ads.
• Put Google Ads within his forum conversations. If the forum has the option, ask people to donate a certain amount of money to have the ads turned off.
• Research some different CPM networks for the less prominent positions to work in with his Google Ads

Josh talked about not wanting to turn into a big advertising network so these suggestions may be all for not. We don’t think his readers would mind having a few more ads show up on the site to guarantee Josh continues to provide quality content and doesn’t get tired of losing money on the site.

Sportsnetwork.com has announced its ongoing expansion plans due to its amazing growth in 2007. Their corporate office is located in Hatboro, Pa and they now have affiliate offices located in Los Angeles, London, Stockholm, New Delhi, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro with others to be announced as they head into the first quarter of the new year. “As our client base has increased domestically and internationally,” stated Ken Zajac, Sales Director for TSN, “it has, for obvious reasons, become incumbent upon us to magnify and enhance our efforts on a global basis regarding everything from content to technology.

“Further,” he continued, “our depth of coverage is not only going to be escalated but it will be augmented by technology that allows for facile conversion and transition from use of any other existing service seamlessly over a short period of time.”

“The technology employed in this effort,” added Bruce Michaels, Director of Technology for The Sports Network, “is a combination of the efforts of our own staff and that of XML Team, our long time exclusive partner and, easily, the most advanced organization in the nation when it comes to XML and SportsML.”

The Sports Network is the nation’s foremost international real-time sports wire service furnishing a plethora of content on a 24/7 basis using state-of- the-art technology. TSN’s website, www.sportsnetwork.com, contains voluminous proprietary sports news data that is available to its clients as well and includes, but is not limited to, scores, trends, analysis, news, features, statistics, pre and post-game reports, box scores, historical data, and very much more.

Some of The Sports Network clients include:

Google, United Press (UPI), CBS/Viacom, IBS/NBC, EarthLink/PeoplePC, WorldNow, Score Cable Network, Cox Interactive, Tribune Media, McClatchey, Lexis*Nexis, Comtex, Yellow Brix, Sports Network Canada, Westwood One, CanWest Interactive (Canada), Toronto Star, Metro Source, Dallas Morning News, New York Times, Learfield Communications, Denver Post, Clear Channel, CableVision (Optimum Online), Armed Forces Radio and TV Network, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC)

As sports become more popular on the internet, demand for content delivery services will constantly expand. Sports websites that can figure out how to create original content around their delivered content will succeed the most. Original content will always be king on the internet.

Website: www.thefanyard.com

Interview With: Rick Perreault

How many founders does The Fan Yard have have and what are their names?

TheFanYard.com was founded by Rick Perreault, Justin Stacey, and Blake Butterfield.

What are the founders background and qualifications?

Blake Butterfield, FanYard Community Manager, is an avid sports writer and blogger, with several years in customer support with Bodog Entertainment. His customer support experience coupled with his thorough knowledge of football makes him ideal for day-to-day communication with the FanYard user base. In addition to maintaining the FanYard blog, Blake writes daily at the Fannation.com where he maintains a very popular blog.

Justin Stacey, Director Product Development, has 15 years experience in interactive media. He has developed a thorough expertise in user interface design and usability issues for a variety of interactive digital media, as well as a solid understanding of software development technologies with a focus on AJAX and Ruby on Rails. Justin has created innovative web-based solutions for such high profile clients as Bodog Entertainment, BC Lotteries Corporation, CTV News, Ipsos Reid, and Nortel.

Rick Perreault, Company President, Rick began his career in interactive media in the 90s as a Web Designer/Developer. This led him to Bluezone as a Sr. Interaction Designer where he lead a variety of news and sports related projects for web, Interactive TV and mobile. He then lead the sports initiative at Rainmaker Interactive as a User Experience Strategist. This landed him at Riptown Media/Bodog Entertainment as a Creative Director where he grew and lead a team of product designers, developers and creative marketers and spearheaded the development of a variety of successful online gaming and entertainment properties.

What does your website do?

TheFanYard.com is a sports social network with a purpose. All our activity is centered around having members make predictions on who they think will win a matchup and by how many points. FanYard then aggregates all the predictions for each game and publishes the Yardstick – the community consensus of who will win and by how many points. This is significant because outside of the individual expert opinions, there is no tool that sports media can use to quote the favorite as predicted by Fans. While some media use the point-spread as an indication of the favorite, this is both inaccurate, as the spread is set to split the betting public in half and not an indication of the favorite, and controversial in the US, because of its relationship to sports gambling. FanYard hopes to become the definitive barometer of public opinion on predicting the outcome of games.

When did you launch?

TheFanYard.com launched as a public beta on August 28th of 2007 with Pro and College Football and have since added NBA and Collage Basketball.

Has it been easy or difficult to build your community?

It’s been mixed. Those who are using FanYard use it a lot and have developed an active community, but we’ve yet to get the traffic needed to build critical mass. Additionally, because of the unique nature of what we are doing, many people have commented that they think FanYard is somehow related to sports gambling or fantasy football, a perception that we need to address. Truthfully, we are still very early in the game so ask me this question again in a year.

What types of marketing have you done?

Very little paid marketing to date as we have focused on PR, blog and forum posting, and some PPC on sports sites like ESPN. Our resources have been focused on user experience. It is our thinking that once we have our users on mass inviting their friends, we’ll know that we’ve achieved a point in which our product is ready for mass market and we will then look at investing resources into marketing initiatives.

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

Our ad provider is RallyAd. We have additional revenue streams planned for the future.

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

We are currently founder funded.

Are you currently looking for funding?

Yes

What is your favorite feature on your site?

The Yardstick. I like to check the site before the start of each NFL game and see what the Yardstick is. Provides some extra excitement for me while I’m watching NFL, especially on the occasions where the Yardstick turns out to be dead on.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

We’ve developed the site using Ruby on Rails and AJAX.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

I think technology is moving us closer to “my interest on demand” and sports will no doubt benefit. We are already seeing more and more niche sites like the FanYard that are highly focused on one topic or purpose. I think this has been made possible by the likes of MySpace and Facebook having successfully gotten millions of average people involved in some sort of online activity. Now those people are going to seek out communities focused on very specific topics of interest.

STN’s Take:

This site has an amazing look and feel. If we are looking to create a new site, we know we are coming to Justin and Rick first. The User-Interface makes the website very easy to navigate through making your picks and updating your profile. We like that they take a consensus of everyones picks and give what the site thinks each team will win by. At first we thought these numbers would be close to the point spread but they really aren’t.

There are some things we would do different with the site. First, we believe the point system favors luck way too much. If one picks the points exactly right you get 100 pts and if you pick one point off, you only get 10.  We know a decent amount about picking games and people who in general can pick pretty close to the points should be rewarded more then someone who picks right on every once in a while. Second, we believe the Yard Stick is biased because of all the people that are predicting the points on their favorite teams.  We have friends that always pick their team no matter what. The best way to take care of this would be to require each person that signs up to choose their favorite team in each sport. Then when figuring out the Yard Stick just throw out each person’s favorite team prediction.

All in all we believe The Yard Stick has solid potential and for anyone who likes to pick games but doesn’t like the gambling aspect, this is a great site to use.

Websites: www.sbnation.com and www.athleticsnation.com

Interview With: Tyler Bleszinski

When did you start SB Nation and Athletics Nation?

SB Nation and Athletics Nation kind of have the same birthday as Athletics Nation was the first site in the family. Course AN started in November 2003 and SB Nation didn’t launch other companion sites until December 2004.

What made you start them?

My best friend bugged me to start a blog about the Athletics because he told me that I needed an outlet for my unhealthy A’s obsession. I didn’t realize he had a grandiose plan for creating the strongest sports blogging network on the planet.

Is blogging your full time career yet?

Actually running SB Nation is my full-time job. We have about 140 blogs at this point and I manage the growth of the network, oversee quality control, pay bills and pretty much anything else that needs to be done.

What was your tipping point? What put you on the map?

I think my first interview with Billy Beane put AN on the map. Still, to this day, I don’t know of any other sports blog that gets the kind of access AN gets.

How were you able to organize the community of bloggers with SB Nation?

We worked on recruiting the best bloggers out there and thankfully, the sports blogosphere was still relatively infantile when we began recruiting. We started with baseball since it was the most mature blogging-wise. We just have grown and grown from there. We now reach more than a million unique people a month.

How does the partnership work with the community bloggers and SB Nation?

It’s essentially an advertising split. We also don’t really regulate what they write and give them a ton of freedom.

Is it tough to manage all the bloggers?

Yeah, it can be. But we also have league managers who help me out. We’ve simply grown too big for me to do it by myself.

What type of blogging software do you use?

We use scoop but we’re moving to a new platform in early 2008. I think it’s going to blow people away.

What ad network do you use?

We currently use Federated Media.

How much money do you make off your site(s) monthly?

Me personally? Not very much. This is more for the love of the game right now.

Are we missing anyone that has enough traffic to be in STN’s Top 25 Sports Blogs?

There are quite a few SB Nation blogs that have surpassed AN in terms of traffic. Is that your main reason for listing AN? Regardless, Minor League Ball, Bleed Cubbie Blue, Viva El Birdos, Golden State of Mind, Burnt Orange Nation, Bruins Nation, Blogging the Boys are all up there.

Besides blogs on SB Nation, what is your favorite blog to read? And what is your most hated blog? Why?

Oh man, that’s tough. I love Kotaku because I’m a video game fanatic. But probably Fire Joe Morgan in the sports area. I don’t get to read as many blogs as I’d like because I’m always checking on the SB Nation blogs.

As for most hated, I don’t really have one. The truth is if I don’t like a blog, I simply won’t spend any time or energy reading it.

STN’s Take:

For A’s fans Athletics Nation is a must read. For fans of sports blogs in general good luck trying to read SB Nation’s 140 blogs, but one should definitely try and find your team’s blog on there. Their bloggers are very experienced and most of them have been at for a while. One would have to think that Tyler has entertained some type of purchase from another media organization. Over a million unique visitors a month must get them a ton of attention. The only issue is figuring out how someone who wants to purchase them can incorporate 140 bloggers into their business. I see a smaller upstart sports media business trying to buy them to get into the game.

Lastly, it is great to hear that they will be launching a new platform in 2008 because we really can’t stand the current look of all the blogs on SB Nation.

 
Website: www.sportme.org

Interview with: Dani Warshager

How many founders does Sportme have and what are their names?

Sportme has 7 founders and their names are:

Dennis Kirschner

Kai Hansen

Philipp Hartmann

Mario Jung

Tobias Johann

Dani Warshager

What are the founders background and qualifications?

We have a solid mix of practical experience and knowledge that makes our team stand out from the rest. The team has a distinguished educational background from the European Business School and University of Applied Sciences in Germany; Carleton University in Canada and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile. Tobias has his PHD in entrepreneurship; Philipp has a degree in finance and strategy; Kai is accomplished in management and marketing; Mario is an ex-pro football player and knows the ins and outs of sports, Sascha is a marketing and PR Guru; Dennis is an IT wiz kid and I am skilled in international business and am a serial entrepreneur. Together the sportme team is made up of the perfect recipe that enables the community to successfully grow.

What does your website do?

Sportme is an innovative sports network that assists grass root and semi-professional sports clubs, teams, individual athletes and fans to interact online and share their sporting experiences with one another. From football to archery, netball to bowls, sportme offers everyone involved in sports the chance to share their exploits with others in the sporting community.

Clubs, teams and individuals can create custom profiles and use the development functions to keep up to date with their sports schedules; coordinate practices, matches and tournaments and find local teams with whom they can compete.

Members can also communicate with their sports peers, develop friendships with other sporty people and promote themselves and their groups via the internet using Sportme message boards, sports forums, blogs, calendar and photo/video sharing functions.

When did you launch?

We have 2 Sportme versions, 1 in English and the other in German. The German site was launched in July 2007. Since the launch we have been experiencing successful results and decided to launch the English version in October 2007. Both versions are the largest in its category and continue to grow strong.

Has it been easy or difficult to build your community?

Building a community is an ongoing adventure and we need to continuously modify it in order to meet the needs and desires of our members. I would not say that it has been easy nor difficult rather I would say that it has been a great experience. We have received excellent feedback, the people love it and members are always inviting their friends to join.

What types of marketing have you done?

We have implemented various on/offline campaigns of which benefit our members and support a good cause. Some of the projects include: Athletes Against Racism, Grass-Root Team Sponsoring and the sportme Charity Project.

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

We have not implemented any revenue streams as of yet. However, we have developed non-invasive income generating methods that will benefit both Sportme and its members. These will be initiated in the New Year.

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

Each of the 7 founders has participated in funding the company and we are also supported by a few Angel Investors.

Are you currently looking for funding?

Our eyes are always open for new investors and we are happy to present to them the Sportme community and all it has to offer.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

I am a fan of our ‘Exchange Jersey’ feature. It is similar to a poking function but we made it specific to sports. Our members love it and it’s a way to break the ice and initiate conversations with new people.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

Sportme uses the most modern Ruby on Rails technology.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

The combination of sports and technology is fairly new, however, together it provides a true benefit, on and offline. Sports are a part of the daily lives of many people and with the introduction of technology it enhances the users experience and sports lives. I believe that the online sports industry is still in its infancy and we will see some spectacular things happen within the next few years.

STN’s Take:

Sportme is a great social network for any person that is international. It is a very robust system that has many Clubs, Teams, and People to be a fan of. One can tell that the founders have a great attention to detail as there are many things to enjoy. As Dani said the exchange jersey function is very cool and a great feature.

Website: www.baseballmusings.com

Interview With: David Pinto

When did you start Baseball Musings?

March 2002.

What made you start it?

During the 2001 season I hosted Baseball Tonight On-line at ESPN.com. That was the first time I had a chance to get my opinions out to the general public. I enjoyed that, and when the program wasn’t renewed, I started the blog.

Do you blog for fun or are you trying to make it a career?

I started doing it for fun, but it has become a career.

What was your tipping point? What put you on the map?

It was gradual. A few bigger blogs linked to me and my traffic grew.

What type of blogging platform do you use?

Movable Type

What ad network do you use?

I use Fantasy Sports Ventures and Blogads.

Any bold predictions for the future of sports on the internet?

I think eventually team broadcasts and blogs will be integrated somehow.

STN’s Take:

For anyone who is heavily into baseball, Baseball Musings is a must visit daily. David always has the most up to date news on whats going on in baseball. He seems to post at least 8-10 times a day so you know he is out there finding the best info on the web and commenting on it. There is plenty of text to read but he may be served well by throwing some pictures up on his blog as well.

Website: www.sportsfly.com

Interview With: Nicholas Wodtke

How many founders does Sports Fly have and what are their names?

One, Nicholas Wodtke

What are the founder’s background and qualifications?

I oversee Snap TV’s day to day operations. Prior to founding Snap TV, I was Senior Vice President of Interactive Television at Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment. I spearheaded the creative and business direction of Sony’s interactive television initiatives as well as the studio’s interactive television line-up.

I came from Columbia Tristar International Television where I served as Chief Operating Officer of Super Television, a leading entertainment cable network in Asia. At Super Television, I oversaw the advertising, sales, programming, production, distribution, marketing, and news departments. Prior to Super Television, I was the Chief Financial Officer at AXN, Asia’s first dedicated action channel. During his tenure at AXN, the channel distribution grew to over 10 million households, broadcasting to fourteen countries across Asia, including China, India, Singapore and the Philippines.

I started my business career at Sony Pictures in the Motion Picture Finance and Corporate Development group where I structured joint venture financing and third party participation for Tristar’s motion picture slate. I started my career as a professional actor performing on Broadway and acting in films, television, and commercials.

I hold a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s Degree from Bucknell University.

What does your website do?

Provide casual and engaging sports games for Sports Fans.

When did you launch?

October 15, 2007

Has it been easy or difficult to build your community?

Building the community has been a deliberate and careful process. Snap has focused primarily on creating a compelling and entertaining site while letting word of mouth do the outreach.

What types of marketing have you done?

• Affiliate campaigns (bounty for each registration)

• Game Syndication (syndicating Snap’s games to 3rd party sites)

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

Site is 100% advertising supported

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

Company has been funded by angel investors.

Are you currently looking for funding?

Yes, venture capital

What is your favorite feature on your site?

Leaderboards & Flypoints

What Type(s) of Technology do you use?

ASP.net, SQL SERVER 2005, AJAX, CSS, XML, WEB SERVICES, INTERNAL API

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

Prepare to see more of the sports audience consume media on the web instead of on TV.

Sports advertisers will migrate more advertisers to the web.

STN’s Take:

We logged in and starting playing the “Super Slugger” game. At first we thought it was real easy, we hit four homeruns in five pitches but then they changed pitchers on us and we didn’t hit any for the rest of my 9 outs. The new pitcher was throwing gas and threw curve balls as well. Its good to see the game gets harder as it goes along. We think this is very important for an internet game because people can master most internet games pretty quickly. Sports Fly’s games can get you through the day. One can challenge friends all day at work or at home. For those of you who enjoy internet games and especially sports ones, Sports Fly is a must visit.