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A LOOK AT THE TOP THREE SPORTS SITESSo, you're thinking of seeing what these sports sites are all about? If so, then, like most Web sports fanatics you'll probably find yourself drawn to one of the big three -- CBS SportsLine, CNN/SI, or ESPN SportsZone. But what do they have to offer once you get there? Well, aside from the name at the top of the screen, this casual observer found that for all but a particularly demanding sports hound their offerings seem pretty much the same. There is one major difference: Price. While CNN/SI is entirely free, CBS SportsLine and the Starwave-produced ESPN SportsZone offer extra information and services to paying members, though each also has an extensive free area. Signing up with either will set you back $39.95 for a year, if you pay up front, or $4.95 per month, if you're not ready to make the long term commitment. To their credit, both SportsLine and SportsZone offer free 30-day trial memberships, so you can try before you buy -- and CBS is enticing new members with a free, if rather dull, SportsLine T-shirt. Of the two, ESPN seems the stingiest with free info; its homepage is littered with tiny ticket icons denoting members-only content, whereas on CBS SportsLine, as long as you steer clear of the fantasy sports games, the paid-for content is a little less ubiquitous (look for the red check marks). And, oh the content, the reams and reams of content. After you've spent time on any one of the three, the sports section of your local newspaper begins to seem a bit inadequate (or perhaps, enough). Each site features stories written by a special online staff plus those from brand name old-media cohorts, as well as a healthy dollop of news pulled from the wires. In addition to stories and columns, there are stats, stats, and more stats, with the Web's database-driven nature giving these sites a big advantage over paper competitors. The content itself is divided at the top level, quite sensibly, by sport, though top level navigation is also provided to special areas built around major events (from the NBA playoffs, to the Whitbread yacht race, to the Preakness, and the soccer's upcoming World Cup). And if you're on the lookout for more specifics, you can also drill through the data by team, city, or individual player. While it may not quite be the same as the beery brawling at your local pub, there's plenty of space devoted to interactivity, as well. Topic-centric chat rooms and message boards (CBS and ESPN offer only chat) are available for talking trash and arguing with fellow fans as to whether the Jazz will sweep the Lakers -- or whatever else comes to mind. And if you just have to know, up-to-the minute sports scores are never far away, as each site offers some sort of downloadable Java desktop doodad to keep you informed, though ESPN's was noticably clunky, bringing my browser to its knees. On top of that, there are plenty of audio and video clips to saturate your dialup connection. Each site, of course, features some sort of tie-in with its old media cousins. ESPN SportsZone posts a few articles from the nascent ESPN magazine, along with columns from and chats with various ESPN experts. CBS and CNN/SI follow a similar tack, with portions of Sports Illustrated making their way onto CNN/SI, as well as some participation from writers (SI) and broadcast personalities (CBS, CNN/SI). All three take numerous opportunities to flog their wares, with pleas to subscribe to ESPN Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Sports Illustrated for Kids dotting the ad banners, and broadcast schedules for CBS, CNN/SI, and ESPN residing just a click away. A big draw, of course, is fantasy sports games. With roots in pen and paper rotisserie league baseball, the online fantasy sports games are much the same, but automate the cumebrsome business of tracking down stats, waiting for them to arrive in the mail, and crunching numbers. CNN/SI and ESPN SportsZone each offer downscale free fantasy games, while SportsZone (again) and SportsLine offer for-pay versions as well, affording the user greater customization and control. Available games match with whatever sport is in season, so right now fantasy baseball is in full swing, while fantasy basketball winds down with special playoff permutations. Though they do offer discounts to site subscribers, hardcore play can seem quite pricey to the uninitiated: for CBS SportsLine's top-of-the-line "Commissioner" package, expect to pay $59.95 for the season if you're a SportsLine subscriber, more if you're not. So what does a subscription to SportsLine or SportsZone get you besides fantasy baseball discounts? Well, in both cases, more of the same. More news, more interviews, and more multimedia clips. Subscribers also get live game reports, up-to-the-minute reports from the Vegas oddsmakers, perks at the online store, and the opportunity to enter members-only contests. CBS SportsLine throws in a customizable home page that will gather the latest info on your favorite teams or sports every time you bring it up, though CNN/SI offers a similar service for free, via CNN's Custom News site. For the casual fan, the paid sites didn't offer a whole lot more than can be sated by CNN/SI. So, unless you need a wealth of information about a particular sport, or are a devoted fantasy baseball aficionado, you might be best served by saving your money for something else -- Yankees tickets perhaps. It doesn't hurt that CNN/SI, as the new kids on the block, have the nicest-looking site (CBS SportsLine, in fact, is downright ugly), and manage not to gum up the works with gratuitous Java applets. If you prefer calculatedly hip, in-your-face-ness, then you'll probably prefer ESPN's site to the others (for all your "extreme" sports needs), though you'll have to pay to do much reading. The devoted fantasy leaguer, on the other hand, may be happier with CBS's wealth of tools, though, again, there's dough to part with. Of course, with summer upon us, it is pretty nice outside. So instead of pecking away at the keyboard, why not just go to a game instead?
By Patrick Lambert
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Updated May 22, 1998 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1998, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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