For many sports executives, spring cleaning means dusting off their golf clubs.
For the Washington Capitals, the change in season means it is time to dust off the ol' Web site (washingtoncapitals.com) and give it a fresh look by relaunching with a new design.
Early reaction from fans is positive, and not just because they contributed to more than 80 percent of the changes.
The site was relaunched last month with an in-game chat with Ted Leonsis, the team's majority owner and vice chairman of AOL. Among topics discussed were team performance and the new site programs.
The relaunched site includes essential information such as pregame and postgame reports, schedules, statistics and ticket information. Based on fan feedback, these links are found on the left-hand side of the home page and, to reduce scrolling, on every internal page.
The left-hand side of the home page also features a search menu and a fantasy-player-friendly "Find a Player" drop-down menu that give users one-click access to individual player information.
The site generated 250,000 page views the first day of the relaunch and drew more than 15,000 unique visitors. Even more telling was that about one-third of all visitors are spending at least 15 minutes on the site.
"If we can gain an audience, we can find new revenue opportunities," said Brett Robinson, new media manager for the Capitals.
One concern during the relaunch design was with the team's fan message board. "It is a very delicate process to improve a section that people are very loyal about," said Declan Bolger, senior vice president of business operations for the Capitals. "That is why you need their feedback to make sure that you do not break something that does not need to be fixed."
Visitors to the old message board wanted to view content on the same page as an online discussion. The team's new site contains links to the top three stories of the day on the same page as the message board.
"This was an easy change that would not have been possible without putting ourselves in the fan's seat and asking them their thoughts," Robinson said. "It is a nice reminder if you give the fans what they want, they will respond favorably."
Dan Migala (dmigala@sportsbusinessjournal.com) is the author of "Interactive Sports Strategies."
