MEDIA WATCHDOG: Grading the Ravens' Team Pages on the Web

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Media Watchdog - MEDIA WATCHDOG: Grading the Ravens' Team Pages on the Web

Posted On: 8/30/07

Written By:

Scot Kleinfeld

If you recall, about a month ago I reviewed the official Ravens website. Since the regular season is now in sight I figured it was time to see what the Ravens pages look like from the five networks that broadcast NFL football.

When browsing any website I always look for three main design features: look and feel, navigation and content. All of the websites in this review were strong on look and feel and navigation. I didn’t find any major issues in those categories for any of the five sites. The differences came down to content and with that said I devised a little comparison table to help you see how I arrived at the final grades.

The categories below were based on research of many sites and the points awarded were based on the following system:

3 points: feature is there as expected and has a little extra compared to the other sites

2 points: feature is there as expected

1 point: feature is there as expected, but not as complete as the other sites

0 points: feature is not there at all

Meet The Contestants (links):

NFL.com

CBS Sports

ESPN

Fox Sports

NBC Sports

Site	NFL.com	CBS Sports	ESPN	Fox Sports	NBC Sports
Link to official team site	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)

Access for game tickets	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page-last game score	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Upcoming Schedule	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (1 pt)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Injuries	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)

Main page- Latest Transactions	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (1 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (1 pts)	No (0 pts)

Main page- Team News	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Current Division Standings	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Current Record	Yes: (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes: (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Individual Stats Leaders	Yes: (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Team Stats Rankings	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Main page- Head Coach Bio	Yes: (3 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts):	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)

Main page- Find Team gear/Shop	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (1 pt)
Links to- Stats	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Links to- Schedule/Results	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (1 pt)	Yes (1 pt)

Links to- Roster	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Links to- Depth Chart	Yes (1 pt)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)

Links to- Team Transactions-	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (1 pt)	Yes (3 pts)	Yes (1 pt)	Yes (1 pt)

Links to- Injury List	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Links to- Coaches Bios	Yes (3 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)

Links to- Draft History/ 2007 Draft Results	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)	Yes (3 pts)	No (0 pts)	Yes (2 pts)

Links to- Team History	No (0 pts)	Yes (1 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)	No (0 pts)

TOTAL POINTS	46	34	38	28	25

NFL.com (46 pts) – This site was very strong across the board and scored extra points in seven of the 22 categories. The team and player stats updated for the preseason is especially nice for fantasy players. The two most notable features I like here are the schedule and results dating back to 1999 and full bios with photos for the entire coaching staff. The one gap was no content on draft history.

Grade- A

ESPN (38 pts) – As expected this site was also very solid. Although it was lacking on a few key content issues from the main page for transactions and stats leaders it had the best draft content. But speaking about transactions, ESPN listed them back to 2001…no other site came close. ESPN was also the only site other than the official Ravens site to have a complete draft history for the 1^st round picks since 1996.

Grade- B+

CBS Sports (34 pts) – It seems like CBS hypes its site more than the other networks during their NFL broadcasts so I expected this site to be the winner. CBS was strong on the roster page design as it featured a sort function on every column. It’s nice to have the option to sort by name, number, position, college, etc. This site came up a little short on historical content since its transactions section only went back six months and the team history page did not list the 2006 division title. Overall though, the site is solid with a healthy dose of good content.

Grade- B

Fox Sports (28 pts) – This site is good, but I doubt I would frequently go back. I was pleased it was not full of those goofy animations you see on the Fox TV broadcasts…like that silly rock-em sock-em robot looking player they show going to every commercial break. Fox came up with 0 pts in 6 categories and nothing on this site stood out over the others in a positive way.

Grade- C

NBC Sports (25 pts) – NBC scores high on shock value because when you go into the team pages you get redirected to Sports Illustrated.com. I had no idea previously that NBC and SI were online content partners. The SI content is nothing special and this site was the only one not to have some kind of injuries listing on the main page. The look and feel is cool, but there is not much else to make a fan bookmark this site over NFL.com, CBS or ESPN.

Grade- C-