ESPN has announced the acquisiton of the NASCAR site Jayski.com. The site is one of the major NASCAR sites on the internet, and one of the main sources of information about NASCAR television ratings.
The acquisition of Jayski follows the similar acquistion of NBA blog Truehoop. These moves have made it obvious that ESPN.com has shifted its focus from depending entirely on in-house talent to involving more trusted, independent writers to cover various sports.
Sites like Jayski and Truehoop have large, sport-specific followings and readers that trust the operators of the site (Jay Adamczyk and Henry Abbott respectively). As both sites were once completely independent, readers view pieces written there with far less cynicism than they might when reading an article by an ESPN writer. Adding sites like these can only help ESPN.com, as the site continues to battle with FOXSports.com.
Now, the question is what sport-specific blog will ESPN acquire next? Pro Football Talk seems plausible. Fire Joe Morgan? Not so much.
