The economic equation is simple and it has worked well for years. Sports teams make news. Media distributes news. Everybody makes money.
Only now that Web 2.0 is here, there’s some question about the role of media in this equation. Now that sports teams can distribute their own news via the Web, and now that “amateur” bloggers can gather the news and publish it themselves, what do we need “old” media for?
This question is brought to light by a recent story out of Washington, D.C.
From Paid Content.org: The Washington Post isn’t covering the World Championships of Hockey in Moscow but Ted Leonsis, AOL vice chairman and Washington Caps owner, “has decided to invest” by deploying a news team of his own. Leonsis explains on his blog that he’s sending four people to Moscow. Their coverage will be posted online for fr*ee and, he writes, “we will share the news with new and traditional media outlets and syndicate it far and wide. We will also nest it on Washingtoncaps.com and the blogosphere via a widget built by Clearspring Technologies.” So Leonsis gets content for his site, off-season attention for the Caps and the chance to show off a widget for a company in which he has an inv*stm*nt.
Leonsis, the face of a new generation?
He also gets to talk about disintermeditation without mentioning the word: “Web 2.0 makes it possible for us to get our coverage out to millions and millions of people, promoting our sport, our team and our players. Our coverage on the web and in the blogosphere is starting to look like a well heeled major media enterprise compared to many traditional media outlets that must curtail their coverage due to lack of budget based on the fragile state of their old business model.”
Where did Leonsis get his Moscow team? He recruited two members by sending a note to a favorite hockey blog On Frozen Blog and asking if one or two of the bloggers could go. They sent a proposal and now two are in Moscow. The other two are from the Caps.
I picked up this story from Paid Content
Related item: NBCU searches for ad model “beynd CPM (read ClickZ Story)
Ted Leonsis brief bio: (more at Wikipedia)
Ted Leonsis is a pioneer of the new media industry; a professional sports team owner and a philanthropist. He is currently Vice Chairman of America Online, Inc. and President of AOL’s audience-based businesses. He is the longest tenured senior-level AOL executive and has served in multiple leadership capacities during his dozen years with the company.
In his present position, Ted sets strategy and vision for AOL, Inc.; champions the members’ voice for all AOL-related brands; and has direct responsibility for AOL’s audience-based businesses - the division that aggregates audiences and creates products and programming for more than 100 million unique monthly visitors on the AOL, AOL.com, CompuServe, Netscape.com, Moviefone, Weblogs, Truveo, AIM, ICQ, and MapQuest. He is also responsible for original content development for AOL, Inc. and all ad sales, commerce and search-related revenue streams.
Ted is a majority owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals hockey team and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics women’s basketball team, and a minority owner with future purchase rights in the NBA’s Washington Wizards basketball team, the MCI Center, and the DC/Baltimore Ticketmaster franchise.
