ESPN.com/Chicago: there goes the neighborhood!

ESPN.com could do to the newspaper’s online sports section what Monster.com did to newspaper classifieds. Eek!

How will local sports media compete with ESPN?
If you are a sports team, or a newspaper, TV or radio station with sports content online in the City of Chicago, you ought be very concerned about the future of your digital revenue.

I just visited ESPN.com/chicago. The page loads, and video is served showing me highlights of Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter along with behind the scenes video of the pitcher’s phone call with Obama…and even a snippet of Obama’s press conference where he alludes to the no-hitter. In one minute, everything I’ve always hated about ESPN TV (having to sit through a bunch of crap until they start talking about my teams) is eliminated. I could get used to that.

I predict local sports media and sports teams will have a tough time matching ESPN’s level of quality on the content front, which means they’ll probably struggle to grow their traffic figures…which will ultimately threaten revenue potential.

Add to this the fact that ESPN will likely hit the streets harder and faster to sell its digital channel. And it will be bundling its Website with TV, print, radio and (perhaps events at ESPNzone). As ESPN’s peddlers pitch market buyers, they will be selling CPM advertising rather than sponsorships. In so doing, they will effectively set the market for local online ad prices. CPM advertising is typically sold for a lot less than impressions inside sponsorships.

Unless teams get out there quickly to talk about “sponsorships” rather than “media,” teams are likely to a harder time selling digital at the same premium they’ve enjoyed in other media.