Last week or so I wrote about the ESPN The Magazine article regarding Myron Rolle and the recruiting sites that follow him and other blue-chip recruits. I ended with the following thought:
A real paranoid thought. No evidence, proof or even particularly well thought out. Just kind of tossing it out. If I were Rivals or Scout, I’d be watching ESPN very closely right now. This could be an opening shot. My guess is they would love to get into the same area if there is sufficient money to be made from a subscriber base. TWWLS has not only the cross-marketing advantage, but also the ability to weaken the eventual competition with articles like this. They could then swoop in and claim the moral high road with their recruiting-team site, and with their 800-pound gorilla status in sports dominate in the field.
Apparently someone at Scout.com is seeing it that way (via mgoblog, who also links to a great article about the business of the recruiting sites).
The problem with the piece is that it is more incoherent rant than actual allegations. Lots of bitterness and sputtering. While complaining that the piece was unfair, the writer doesn’t actually go after Feldman or the actual truth in the article. Instead it pushes the idea further and further that ESPN is plotting a takeover. Screaming from the rafters that ESPN is planning to go negative on recruiting sites while pumping up their own offerings isn’t going to help.
Now, I do think Scout and Rivals have some reason to cast a wary eye towards ESPN. No question. They likely did, prior to the story. If it involves sports and making money, you know ESPN will get there sooner or later. As I said it was a paranoid thought requring some more careful observations. I said nothing about announcing that war has begun, and firing a bullet into your foot. The worst thing to do when you are feeling paranoid is to lash out blindly and just give people reason to dismiss it as the thoughts of a deranged mind.
How about someone find out something more about Scouts, Inc.
Scouts, Inc., founded by 20-year scouting veteran Gary Horton, breaks down film of every NFL game, numerous college games and individual footage of college prospects, and our experts attend NFL training camps and both NFL and college games in person. They do everything their NFL counterparts do, but instead of internalizing this information, they write it exclusively for ESPN. Scouts, Inc., is dedicated to serving the hard-core football fan with thoughtful, in-depth analysis of NFL and college players, coaches and teams.
That just tells us who the founder is. Not whether ESPN is a financial backer or owner. Before Scouts, Inc., Horton was a former NFL Scout and wrote a regular draft guide called the War Room. He supplied content to The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. Is this just the natural growth or something else? This issue would actually be something worth investigating a little deeper. What exactly is the financial relationship between Scouts, Inc. and ESPN?
This was one of those matters where some subtlety and doing more to strengthen those alliances with other sports sites and portals would serve the interests far more than screaming.
