Internet

    The Internet is another technology that has greatly influenced sports.  All sports teams from baseball, basketball, and football have web pages to advertise their team as well as to provide information for fans.  Moreover, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League all have home pages which advertise their sport.

 

   These websites provide a great deal information to fans.  They have up-to-the-minute scores, recaps of stats from the games, articles on what has been happening around the league, links to all of the teams' home pages, and biographies on all of the players.  If fans are away on a trip and the game is not televised where they are, they can still follow their team by reading about the games.  Moreover, they can follow the games on the web play-by-play, as exemplified by espn.com's GameCast.  Some websites, such as mlb.com, are even offering fans the chance to hear their favorite teams' games broadcasted live over the Internet for a small fee.  Also, this year, Major League Baseball is offering the chance for fans to watch baseball games live cross the Internet for a fee.  Yahoo! is also doing a similar thing with the NCAA Men's Tournament, allowing fans to watch all the games of the first three rounds of the tournament over the Internet for a fee.  This service would allow people without access to a television to follow their team every step of the way to the Elite Eight.  Additionally, espn.com, with its new ESPN Motion, allows fans to view clips from various games right over the Internet.  Moreover, the Internet lets fans interact directly with the professional sports leagues, as fans can vote for their favorite players for the all-star games, something that has been extended by the NBA to China this very year.  Finally, fans can vote live over the Internet whether they think a call is correct or what a coach should do, something ABC already allows for on Monday Night Football, called Enhanced TV.

    Many college teams also have web pages.  These sites provide information for fans regarding their own team as well as other teams in their conference.  Fans can follow their teams with the live Internet broadcasts of the games that some college websites have.  Also, the websites help provide information about the school for recruits in order to convince them to sign.