Innovation at ESPN

I believe any organization finds periods of growth as well as decline. No matter the business or economic environment, an organization needs to be looking for growth opportunities. When considering ESPN, I believe growth is primarily driven by volume increases. I say this under the assumption that changes in cable/satellite viewer rates are limited to contractual agreements, which typically do not experience extraordinary increases in rapid fashion. As a result, with rate changes being out-of-play in terms of adjustments, I believe ESPN innovation should be focused on volume increases.

To this end, I began thinking about how ESPN could attract more eyeballs to its Web site, programming, events, and other points of contact it has with its viewers. What I came upon is an innovative idea that will capture a greater audience than what is currently being entertained by ESPN. Simply put, my idea is to have a portion of the ESPN Web site dedicated to local, recreational sports leagues.

Consider a men’s softball league in Any Town, USA. Why do these men play this game? Do they enjoy sports? Do they like being active? Do they like exercise? Do they miss baseball? Are they competitive?… I think one will find people play sports at the league level for any number of reasons. While individual reasons vary, certain trends remain the same; Camaraderie and competition come to mind immediately.

I believe ESPN can capitalize on these leagues. To do this, a section of ESPN’s Web site should be dedicated to leagues. Imagine a league profile page that shows the teams, the standings, the statistics, the news, the players, and commentary from players within the league. In building this portal, ESPN will deliver a level of interaction for league members unlike anything they have today, save for those leagues savvy enough and fortunate enough to maintain their own Web sites.

So what’s the difference between individual Web sites and ESPN League? Simple, ESPN is ESPN. I would wager that 80% of current participants in leagues nationwide visit ESPN.com at least once a week. Now these people will be going to ESPN.com more often than before in viewing their personal player profile, their statistics, banter between teams, standings, schedules, and scouting reports on upcoming opponents.

With this portal ESPN would experience increase in Web site traffic, resulting in potential ad revenue increases. ESPN then becomes a more engrained part of many player’s lives, some further than before, but also by attracting those players that don’t frequent ESPN’s content. They begin buying programming, so ESPN will see more subscribers per month. Here we have found serious growth potential. 

But recognize that doing ESPN League doesn’t just provide growth, it provides new growth opportunities by making the pie even larger than it is today. The great thing is that this pie doesn’t have a near-term foreseeable limit. Imagine stretching from men’s and women’s softball, to other sports such as golf, bowling, darts, tennis, shuffleboard, etc. Now go even deeper by heading into little leagues. Imagine that, ESPN Little League. A little league player’s card on ESPN.com? Crazy cool. But even beyond that, allow users to enter their own stats regardless of league status. From a recruiting tool for college/pro athletes, to a bragging tool between buddies, ESPN League would be an innovative solution for ESPN.