Kraft Sports Group Tabbed As Local Sales Agent For ESPN Boston

Kraft Sports Group To Serve As Local Sales Agent For ESPNBoston.com

ESPNBoston.com has entered into a business relationship with one of New England's biggest sports owners. ESPN has hired Kraft Sports Group (KSG) as the local sales agent for its new Boston-focused Web site, which launched September 14, a date that coincided with the Patriots' first game of the season. KSG owns the Patriots, the MLS Revolution and Gillette Stadium, three entities that have been the focus for much of the Web site's coverage. Part of ESPN's strategy has been to launch local Web sites in markets where it owns and operates its own radio station, allowing the radio station's sales force to sell for the Web site, as well. ESPN did not own a radio station in Boston, however, selling its syndicated programming to WAMG-AM. The day ESPNBoston.com launched, WAMG was taken off the air, leaving ESPN looking to KSG to sell advertising for its Web site. The two had been talking for several weeks, and a deal was struck earlier this week (Ourand & Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).

CONFLICT OF INTEREST? PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio writes the partnership between ESPNBoston.com and KSG is "one of the most blatant and obvious conflicts of interest we ever have seen." This deal is "well beyond ... the placement of a CBS-themed restaurant at Patriot Place," as it involves a "sports news outlet entering into a significant business partnership with one of the handful of teams that will be covered by the ESPNBoston.com site." Florio: "It's surreal, frankly. ... From this point forward, every thing said or written by ESPN about the Patriots needs to be considered in light of this relationship" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 9/24).