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Haven't had enough Tiger Woods news lately? Are you absolutely obsessed with the comings and goings of Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and their respective love lives? Well, the newest entrant into the world of sports reporting may keep you up to date on just that, and more. TMZ has become a major name in the world of celebrity news, and is now expanding its reach into the world of sports.
The main reason for this move is that TMZ will no longer be tied to AOL (AOL), which should make it easier for Harvey Levin to introduce a sports-related Internet site. The celeb happenings of the past year have helped to cement the validity of TMZ, but advertising sales are on pace to come in $10 million shy of a year ago. TMZ itself has evolved from a scoffed-at website that paid for tips and hints to major news stories to an "effective news-gathering operation of a certain kind" according to Time Warner (TWX). TMZ came into its own this year, with the site's popularity exploding thanks to its report that Michael Jackson passed, which came in an hour before the "most mainstream news organizations."
Levin believes that there is room for TMZ's sports entrant, as there is "agenda reporting" in today's sports world. Levin feels that TMZ Sports would be the outsider that the sports reporting world needs. The TMZ Sports spin off could be directly attributed to Tiger Woods' post-Thanksgiving car crash, as the website felt that the car accident "made no sense," leading to TMZ deciding that it had to "dig deeper." TMZ is trying to establish itself as a go-to place for the latest in celebrity news (a position it has proven again and again), which it hopes will lead to the same position in the sports world. Quite honestly, I can see it happening, thanks mainly to the fact that TMZ is a leader in the world of Internet news.
I have a bit of a concern though, and it was raised by Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption early last week. Kornheiser theorized that the reporters TMZ uses aren't used to dealing with people as physical as professional athletes. Yes, TMZ reporters are used to frequently being chased off of celebrity's property, but Usain Bolt can run a lot faster than Charlie Sheen. Taking a punch from Jude Law is more than likely a lot less painful than taking a punch from Floyd Mayweather. More often than not, athletes are used to settling their differences in the field of combat -- which could lead to some ugly situations for TMZ Sports reporters. I'm not saying that physical violence will happen, but it is very likely, especially when short tempers are challenged. (Mike Tyson anyone?)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-29-2009 @ 8:00AM
Dan Barnett said...
If TMZ wants to be a legitimate news source they will have to do better than to be taken in with a counterfeit picture of "President Kennedy".
Though I'll give you the fact that a number of competing "news" sources are trying to be first with the "story" makes the chances of such errors more likely.