Making Room in the Lineup: Newspaper Web Sites Face Growing Competition for Sports Fans’ Attention

Each day, fans, journalists, and others look online for information about sports, leagues, and teams. Newspapers have developed Web sites that, in part, help them expand the audience for their sports coverage. Other sites also have developed that aim to attract sports fans. One type of Web site, the “fan site,” is a specialized site that focuses on one team or league. As newspaper Web sites and fan sites look to attract Internet sport consumers and advertisers, their sites have grown increasingly similar. This article looks at some of the ways that the two types of sites have grown to be more alike and looks at potential areas of research that have developed.