ESPN.com To Receive Total Redesign In 2014

The worldwide leader in sports changed its website’s comments platform on stories this month, but bigger changes to ESPN.com are on the horizon.

A spokesman for ESPN digital media says EPSN.com is receiving a complete redesign that is expected go live sometime in early 2014. Its flagship ScoreCenter app, which brings scores, news and standings from sports leagues around the world, is also being updated next month.

All of these updates are laying the groundwork for the network’s new state-of-the-art production center that will serve as the new home to SportsCenter, the continuously updated, daily sports show that is broadcast up to 12 times per day on cable and satellite. Chuck Pagano, ESPN’s chief technology officer, talked about the new production center in an interview with TVNewsCheck in June.

The 195,000-square-foot digital production center is expected to open in May 2014.

Kevin Ota, director of communications for ESPN digital media, wouldn’t delve into specifics on what the new website would look like, but said it would be a noticeable change.

“It’s a total redesign,” he says. “It’s going to be a product of our digital media philosophy, which is live, personal and social. We do those things now, but we think we can do them better.”

ESPN has made strides in all three of those philosophy components in the past year, by pushing live sporting events on its main page via its Watch ESPN TV everywhere platform, allowing readers to create an account and filter headlines on the main page based on their favorite teams, sports and individual athletes and most recently, changing its comment platform from one that allows anonymous commenting to a Facebook-required platform.

The change to the Facebook comment platform, which went into effect July 17, didn’t come without criticism. About a month prior to the switch, ESPN notified readers when the change would occur, prompting anonymous readers to comment things like, “R.I.P. ESPN July 17, 2013,” and “Changing to Yahoo Sports on July 17.”

Before the change, it was common to see some stories garner more than 5,000 comments. Survey the site today, and most stories are averaging between 500-700 comments. (A story about Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose that published Thursday did flirt with 2,000 comments.)

Ota says the comment section of stories weren’t out of control under the old platform, and added that by requiring a Facebook account, comments now become more transparent.

“By virtue of just that, it produces, what we think, is a better, more quality-oriented dialog amongst readers,” he says, noting anonymous commenting tends to take the conversation off-topic. “We know that there’s a tradeoff in terms of quantity versus quality, but that’s what we were going for. We’re looking for quality dialog.”

Users who comment under their Facebook account are subject to the social network’s privacy policy. ESPN warns commenters that their Facebook name, photo and other personal information that’s public on Facebook will appear with the comment and could be used on ESPN’s media platforms.

Ota says the ESPN digital team did notice an immediate drop in the number of comments, but is pleased with what they’re seeing, in terms of the quality of engagement.

The sports network will continue to monitor and evaluate the new commenting platform going forward, says Ota.

“We’re looking for intelligent, lively debate amongst sports fans who have a passion for their teams, sports and individual athletes,” he says. “In terms of reaction to our content, we want to make that the best it can be.”