Over the years, there's little room for argument among business observers that the NFL is far and away the most well-run professional sports business in the country. How else could you explain losing franchises being valued close to a billion dollars? The television contracts put the other pro sports' to shame; it's virtually impossible to get tickets for most teams; and the fan experience is second to none.
When it comes to the internets, though, the NFL lags far behind even the pay-day loan industry in their web presence and fan interface.
The NFL.com site looks like it hasn't been updated in 5 years...except for the pop-up ads. At least it's functional, and even gets an update now and then.
The team sites however...could use some work. Compare the individual NFL team sites to the MLB team sites...no comparison right? For instance, today on the Rams' site they have video of Linehan's Monday presser (what else can we really say at this point?), which is an up-to-date feature that a team site should have. But the second headline story is about the Rams' cheerleaders visiting troops at Ft. Lewis for Veterans Day a week and half ago, coinciding with the Seattle game.
Now, I'm glad to see the Rams' cheerleaders making the rounds in support of troops, especially on Veterans Day. And I have no beef that they went to Ft. Lewis in Washington, rather than, say, Ft. Wood in MO, which is in, you know, the Rams' local market. But, it's old news. It's not a stretch to think that the average web browser surfing around the net while sitting around in the nude looking for a site to get a few jollies off of might want to see updated news - and photos, lots of photos - about the cheerleaders from his favorite NFL team.