At one point or other, I think we’ve all been there. We’ve been lost on ESPNSoccernet.com. Or was it ESPN.com? No, wait a minute, maybe it was ESPN.co.uk? Regardless, the path to navigate our way through ESPN’s online soccer presence has been, up until now, complicated. Thankfully, ESPN has decided to officially launch a new soccer website ESPNFC.com, which will be their global brand for ESPN’s soccer news online.
Beginning tomorrow, ESPNSoccernet.com (aka Soccernet.com) will be no more. Instead, traffic will be redirected to ESPNFC.com. And the official launch will happen just in time for the 2012-13 Premier League season.
In a recent interview with EPL Talk, ESPNFC.com Senior Editor James Martin explained that the one URL will simplify things, making it easier for readers, as well as making it easier to coordinate with TV, to promote the website and vice-versa.
The main talking points about ESPNFC.com are:
- There will be regional differences between ESPNFC.com. For example, the US and UK editions will have regional flavors. But visitors will be able to control their experience by selecting which edition they’d like to view from the top navbar,
- Gabriele Marcotti will have an exclusive column on ESPNFC.com every Monday and Wednesday; Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan will also contribute columns for the website,
- ESPNFC.com will feature more video integration than ESPNSoccernet.com,
- There’ll be an enhanced live experience on the website with ESPNFC.com’s Live Match HQ featuring chats, previews, post-match updates and more,
- Roger Bennett from Men In Blazers fame will continue his irreverent columns for ESPNFC.com,
- ESPN Soccernet’s podcast will be rebranded as the ESPNFC Podcast,
- The design of ESPNFC.com will evolve. It’s currently a hybrid of the ESPNFC.com design from Euro 2012 mixed with elements from ESPNSoccernet.com,
- ESPNFC.com will be run by a global team with contributors from both sides of the Atlantic.
While it’s not ready for the debut of ESPNFC.com, Martin added that his team is working on integrating the WatchESPN app into the page design so that in the future visitors can, for example, watch a live Premier League match that WatchESPN has rights to, instead of having to open up a new browser window or tab. That integration will certainly be something to look forward to.
ESPN has also launched its new ESPNFC app – available on Apple, Windows Phone and Android handsets – includes personalization, allowing soccer fans to customize the app by their favourite leagues, teams and tournaments, and exclusive video and audio from ESPN’s various studio-based discussion and analysis shows.
ESPNFC.com will go live today.
What are your thoughts regarding the new website? What do you like or don’t like? Let us know in the comments section below.
