ESPN, College Sites Forming Partnerships

ESPN is expected to have “affiliate” deals with 17 sites by the beginning of the upcoming college football season and is in talks with as many as a dozen more. It hopes to build a roster of more than 50 sites by next year. The relationships are essentially content-sharing partnerships with no money exchanging hands. The sites, with names like TheBigSpur.com, Bucknuts.com and GatorCountry.com, are expected to keep their independent identities. By affiliating with these sites, ESPN can direct its readers to local stories on those schools' programs that it couldn't afford to cover. Most of the sites feature football and men's basketball coverage, though some have incorporated baseball. Meanwhile, site owners can use ESPN stories and video and are permitted to cite ESPN's proprietary polls and recruiting rankings. At the moment, most sites with ESPN affiliations are dedicated to programs with rabid fan bases, including most SEC schools, Ohio State, Miami, Southern California and Oklahoma. Maryland and Virginia Tech sites are expected to join the network by 2009. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/31/espn-college-sites-forming-partnerships/