Website to get serious about sports
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
November 28, 2007
Sports writers Mike Mouat and Dominic Papa made a commitment three years ago when they created the Windsor Essex Sports Person of the Year awards (the WESPYs) to start treating Windsor’s local athletes and sports teams like professionals.
Coming in January 2008, they’ll be unveiling their latest efforts in mediating local sports and athletics, with Game Day Sports Daily, a website focusing exclusively on athletes and athletics in the Windsor Essex County.
“I was really excited about putting the WESPY Awards together, and it’s a real challenge. And I’m as excited about this as I was with the WESPYs,” said Papa.
Though the website isn’t going to be ready until January, the team has been working on recruiting a cast of webmasters, writers and broadcasters to make the Game Day Sports Daily experience the most comprehensive local sports information site available in Windsor, Essex County.
Game Day Sports is a promotions company that Papa started. “The WESPY Awards are the first big project we’ve tackled,” said Papa. “It goes hand in hand with the WESPYs because we’ll be able to provide our selection committee with plenty of information, numerous articles, results and files.” He continued, “The WESPY awards are the marquee event for Game Day Sports. Game Day Sports Daily is the next venture. It goes hand in hand in being a local and area sports coverage provider and putting on events for our teams and athletes. I think it will work very well together.”
Papa continued, “We should have a test page within the next two weeks, maybe three, depending on much more technology we have to implement. A lot of the ideas have come in the last few weeks. We’re also going to venture into getting into audio broadcasts for area sports programs. That’s the biggest development where we implemented the technology to implement audio broadcasts.”
Papa has been considering broadcasting local events, like basketball double-headers with the University of Windsor Lancers, or hockey games with the Tecumseh Chiefs.
These examples would be available to registered members of Game Day Sports Daily. “That’s something I’m working on in the next month or so,” said Papa, “To have two or three audio broadcasts a week making our website that much more complete and making it a more efficient local sports website.”
Mouat, the on-line editor, said the site will look familiar. “We’re hoping to have it similar to a newspaper front page, a lead story with a picture on the front, a couple teasers on the other games we’re able to get good details on, and links to other details,” said Mouat.
Mouat says that local sports should have had a website like this for a long time. “It’s probably the best medium to do it, and that was the impetus behind it. I played high school sports here in Windsor, and the level of athletics here is pretty good and it probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves.”
“I think the obstacles first and foremost,” said Mouat, “are providing the level of coverage we want to. That falls on my shoulders, I’ve got find some more people. The market conditions are a bit tough, and we’re going to be looking for advertising, we’ll have some challenges in selling, and the level of communications we want to get the word out right from the OUA level to the junior level and high school level. It’s going to take us a little while to communicate to everybody to get the hits we want to get.”
Reading articles and features on the website are designed to be free of cost, but a membership to the Game Day Sports Daily website will be required to listen to live broadcasts of sporting events.
The crux of the website lies in its ability to broadcast local sports games and bringing even further exposure to athletes and athletics in Windsor. Papa said, “The real kicker will be the audio broadcasts. We haven’t set up all the pricing structure yet, but we’re going to make it affordable because it’s about exposure.”
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