Boston.com has acquired Boston Dirt Dogs, a popular Red Sox fan Web site, and will incorporate its content into Boston.com’s sports section in June. As part of the deal, Steven Silva, founder of Boston Dirt Dogs, will join Boston.com starting June 7 as a sports producer. “We want to give Red Sox fans as many opportunities to talk and debate about sports as possible, and Boston Dirt Dogs is the perfect forum for that,” said Teresa M. Hanafin, editor in chief, Boston.com. “Our users love joining the conversation about sports online every day, whether it’s sending us photos for a Johnny Damon look-alikes gallery, creating party recipes for the Patriots’ Super Bowl run or ranting about a managerial move in the previous night’s game.”
Interesting idea. It probably makes more sense for news sites to first try building their own fan sites, but if they fail and there’s a strong community one out there, this approach is smart.
For two EXCELLENT examples of news sites that have successfully built their own fan sites, check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Packer Plus and the Lawrence Journal-World’s KUSports.com.
