Today's "Online Drive" profiles the Dodgers Web site,
located at http://www.dodgers.com. The team has been online
since the '96 season, and its site has been powered by
Earthlink Network for the past two years.
CA-CHING: The team has sold merchandise online through
a catalog posted on the site for the past four years.
Tickets have been available online for the past three years
through a direct link to ETM Entertainment Network. Dodgers
Webmaster Ben Platt was unable to release sales totals, but
did acknowledge that there has been "large increases" in
both merchandise and ticket volume "over the past three
years." The team's marketing department oversees all
aspects of the site, including advertising sales.
THE REAL DEAL: The site averages 32,000-50,000 page
views a day and features live audio broadcasts of every
game. The site offers broadcasts in both Spanish and
English, along with replays of highlights from a previous
game. Real-time scoring is available, but Platt has found
that users are more apt to follow games via statistical
updates every half inning. The site also features a
baseball poetry section where poems about the game are
available via Real Audio and read by Dodgers personnel such
as Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda. An extensive 109-year
history of the Dodgers is also included on the site.
A MATTER OF THE MIND: Platt says the team's promotion
of the Web site is minimal because the Dodgers "were one of
the first to really ... embrace the Internet." The site is
firmly established and the team has incorporated its URL
address into posters, ads, and TV spots. While the team
sees the site as an integral vehicle in communicating with
fans, Platt said "revenue is always a part of the whole
thing." The site "has always been in the black and has
always done well." USA Today Baseball Weekly writer Pat
Coleman has listed Dodgers.com as MLB's best site the past
three years and notes the "depth of information that's
available, from daily information such as press releases and
stats, to multimedia history." Coleman said the site does a
"very good job of representing" the team's history online,
with video clips dating back to '47 (THE DAILY).
