Website:  MVN

Name:  Evan Brunell

When did you launch MVN?

MVN was originally launched December 31, 2003. It was not put together as a company until March 2004, however.

What made you launch it?

MVN in it’s original form was simply a blog about the Red Sox and Pirates linked to each other. We had the idea to get someone covering every baseball team and link to each other under the same house with a similar design. It was a concept that we quite literally stumbled on to and have been concentrating on making it a business since.

Is their more then one founder? If so, who are they?

The founder of the idea was myself and Frank Palmieri, a friend from Pittsburgh. The founders of the company were myself and Dave Cohen, a former partner who works for IBM. Cohen sold his share in the company last year to my father.

What is your background and qualifications?

I am currently finishing up a degree in journalism and a minor in business administration at Northeastern University. I have worked at the Red Sox Foundation, Northeastern Marketing and Communications, ESPN Radio Boston and currently am at The Patriot Ledger. I am curious about the advent of new media and am dedicated to making MVN the best independent sports media company it can be. MVN was a site that was originally designed as a hobby and has grown into much more.

What does your website do?

From MVN’s About Us page:

“MVN is an independent sports media company relying on the volunteered time of people to “blog,” or write on the internet, about their favorite sports team or any derivation thereof. MVN also has a podcast network, which can be thought of as blogging, except in voice form. MVN continues to aggressively explore what a sports blog network can do on the internet, and prides itself on being the first and largest sports blog network on the internet. With such a distinction comes awesome responsibility, and while other networks have sprung up, MVN continues to pave the way and will continue to pave the way during this exciting time in history, where “convergence journalism” is becoming the preferred media.”

Basically, we give a voice to bloggers to blog about their favorite team.

This summer, MVN.com will be re-launched in an effort to better serve the needs of sports fans. Focusing on producing a higher quantity and stronger quality of content in addition to implementing a more sophisticated publishing platform, the Most Valuable Network intends to set itself apart from other online destinations. Continuing to develop a strong sense of community between readers and writers is a top priority.

How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?  Have you contacted advertisers directly instead of going with ad networks?

We primarily generate revenue through our ad network, Fantasy Sports Ventures which takes on a bit of a bigger role than a typical ad network. We are very pleased to be part of the FSV network. We also work with the smaller-market advertisers directly, such as ticket brokers, to place links on the pages.

How have your marketed your site?

Right now, since we are self-funded and in a family business, we do not have much capital and rely on word of mouth for marketing. We plan on changing that this coming year and getting MVN the traffic it truly deserves. Everyone who visits MVN always talks about how much they like MVN and what it offers; we just need to get more people to see it for themselves.

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

MVN is currently self-funded. My father invests for any overhead, but for the most part, MVN’s ad revenue currently covers all costs. Last year, we were able to turn a profit which will help as the new platform for MVN will be costly. We are exploring people investing into the company.

Are You currently looking for funding?

Yes, we are starting to look for additional ways to create revenue so we can pour it into the company to realize additional profit coming back. We are open to angel investments or venture capitalism.
What type(s) of technology do you use?

Our platform is currently Wordpress MU, and we also have RSS, podcast, video and other technology available.

What is your favorite feature on your website?

The fact that we bring local team coverage to a national scale. It’s what we’ve always built around and what we always will.

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?

Sports has exploded in popularity thanks to the Internet and technology. Now, not only is it easier to follow your favorite team, you can follow all teams and know anything you want. In addition, the technological advances (such as the yellow first down line) has made watching sports so much more fun as well. And the scary thing is that we’re still figuring out this technology gizmodo. Imagine what happens when we finally do.

Website: East Windup Chronicle

Interview with: Aaron Shinsano

Is their more then one founder? If so, who are they?

Aaron Shinsano
Jackson Broder

What is your background and qualifications?

I worked at a daily newspaper in Oakland, CA for five years. Jackson works part time as a scout for the Twins. We both live in Asia, me in Korea, he in Taiwan. We both came here on masters programs and ended up teaching English. We both teach at colleges. I only do 12 hours teaching a week, so I have plenty of time to write. For better or for worse.

What is your website about?

Firstly we cover baseball as it relates to Asia, secondly we cover anything else related to Asia. Thirdly we cover anything as it relates to anything.

How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?

We’ve gotten a few freelance writing jobs via the site, and just recently I started what will be a regular shift at MLB Traderumors (which is how I first read Sports Tech Now) that pays a little. Jackson just got hired to write sports for the Taipei Times.

We use Google AdSense which generates about ten big ones a month and we recently got our first non-ad network ad through Vividseats.com.

At first I was pretty pro-active about sending stuff out and trying to get linked to. MLB Trade Rumors supported us early on and it brought a huge influx of people to our site. Aaron Gleeman also wrote us up. But now, I’m at ease about the whole thing. Actually a big turning point was reading something Matt from Metsblog said on this site — that good writing will find an audience. It seems obvious, but it’s very true. Once I got that into my head I stopped worrying about stats and comments and just put the writing out there…hoping it would land somewhere. We’ve grown more since then.

What type(s) of blog platform do you use?

Wordpress

It’s a little corny to say, but I love the blog medium and am glad to be a part of it. I say this with some regret, but I think newspaper journalism is a sinking ship. Most of the people I worked with have had their contracts bought out or have been laid off, some more than once. I think for the immediate future we’ll see a continuation of what’s happening now — newspapers will be bought up and owned by fewer and fewer people, and the quality will continue to decline. Newspapers will be read for nostalgic purposes only, and most writers will become independent publishers. The word blog might go by the wasteside, but it’ll essentially be the same thing.

Take us through your time line of early Mister Irrelevant, AOL, the relaunch of Mister Irrelevant, The Blog Show, and finally Yahoo:

At the time I started Mr. Irrelevant (March ‘04), I was a Community Manager for AOL Sports and a bunch of other AOL verticals, as they were called: Games, News, Personal Finances, Autos, etc. Mr. Irrelevant beget Pigskins Bloggers which beget Sports Bloggers Live which beget FanHouse. I think it was FanHouse that ultimately caught the attention of Yahoo! Sports, and I was hired there in October. Somewhere along the line, we started doing Blog Show on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic as well, probably due to my experience hosting Sports Bloggers Live and love affair with Dan Steinberg.

What is your favorite part about being a blogger and a blog editor?

I love sports, and I love media. Always have, always will. But the part about working in a medium that’s new and emerging and uncertain makes it all the better. And I really love the instant gratification. I’m kind of addled by it, actually.

Did you know you always wanted to write about sports?

Yeah, I think so, though I’ve never been particularly good at it. I just like being involved with sports. Playing them. Watching them. Going to games. Collecting stuff. Talking about them. Writing about them. And so on. Sports, generally speaking, have been my life pursuit.

What was it like to work for AOL? Were you pretty much on your own on? Was it easy to recruit bloggers for the Fanhouse? How were they paid?

Yeah, I had a lot of autonomy and was granted the approval to go my own way. I’ll always be thankful for that. As far as recruiting bloggers … it was kind of a mixed bag. Some bloggers were amenable to what generally equated to being paid side-gig money for their work. And others just didn’t have the time or inclination for that. Overall, I was grateful for and proud of the quality of the writers under that roof.

How long did it take Yahoo to recruit you?

Given what Yahoo! Sports has accomplished and the opportunity that was on the table … not very long.

Yahoo CEO, Jerry Yang, seems to be very bullish on the future of Yahoo Sports and we assume you will be a big part of that. Have you gotten a chance to meet him yet or at least talk to him on the phone or email?

I have not, but, uh, I’d imagine he’s been a bit busy lately what with all this Microsoft business.

Not much has come about with you moving over to Yahoo yet. You must be working on a big project. Can you elaborate on it at all?

We’ve actually been doing things, I swear. In simple terms, Yahoo! Sports is monkeying the Gawker Media approach and applying it to sports, with each sport having its own blog and each blog having its own editor and various contributors. The goal being that we establish the Deadspin of the NFL, the Deadspin of the NHL, the Deadspin of MMA, etc., and offer them up not just to the web at-large, but to the 20 million people already using Yahoo! Sports every month. That said, the content won’t necessarily be Deadspin or Gawker-esque, it’s just that the setup will be, and, eventually, all sites merge into one to form the YSB (extremely creative working title; stands for Yahoo! Sports Blog).

There’s more to The Plan than that, and there’s a lot happening behind the scenes and on the periphery to bring it all back home, but here’s what Yahoo already has front-and-center for mass consumption:

Ball Don’t Lie (NBA blog edited by J.E. Skeets): http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nba_experts

Shutdown Corner (NFL blog edited by MJD): http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/nfl_experts

Big League Stew (MLB blog edited by Kevin Kaduk): http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/mlb_experts

What are some of your favorite blogs right now? What is one new blog that has caught your eye as up and coming?

My bloglines are always open: http://www.bloglines.com/public/jamiemottram

As a D.C. sports fan, my No. 1 must-read is probably the D.C. Sports Bog. No. 2 would be anything my brother writes on Mr. Irrelevant. Another couple that are a bit under-the-radar: Capitol Punishment and Chris’ Sports Blog, both of which have been around but seem a bit under-read. Those guys can really write.

Any advice for a young blogger looking to move up the ladder and work for an sports media organization someday?

Get yourself connected, and treat every post like a tryout.

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

Sure, it’s moving online. All of it.

STN’s Take:

Jamie is living proof that working hard and networking can get you to the top of the blog world pretty quickly. He has recruited some quality bloggers and they have started 3 new blogs. We liked what we were reading over there but at this point we find it hard to believe that Yahoo can justify paying Jamie, blog editors for each site, and contributors in the long run with sport general blogs. The Gawker Media approach works because each website creates its own community and their blogs can really post whatever they want. Yahoo will be much more strict in what they allow on their blogs. Could you imagine seeing a Chris Berman Video posted on Yahoo, we couldn’t. Jamie says they have more in the works so hopefully he has some tricks up his sleeve in the future. Maybe he can figure out a way to do something different that no one has seen so far in blogging world on a major website.