After my The Future of Social Networks post I have been watching to see what sports teams are doing online. So I was interested to hear about the refurbished Dallas Cowboys social networking site. The Cowboys site is home to blogs and discussion forums for fans and team staff. The Cowboys also hope that the social media site can be an outlet for fans to express themselves and meet others.
“The blog site has created a strong online community of friends who are avid fans of the Dallas Cowboys and consistently provide positive feedback and support,” stated Derek Eagleton, Dallas Cowboys Internet Director. “With this system in place, our fans around the world can communicate with each other on the latest news,” he continued. The Dallas Cowboys Fan Zone boasts approximately 22,500 registered users.
Today it is a blog site. Tomorrow it is a full blown subscription model with exclusive video interviews and behind the scenes stuff. And if I am not mistaken, any revenue that the Cowboys make from their web site is revenue that they do nit need to share with the league. So 22,500 users at $10 a month is about $3 million a year in revenue. Pretty soon these revenue numbers start to look attractive!
