ESPN launches local sports sites - starting with Chicago

Well, if local newspapers weren't feeling it enough, ESPN has now entered into the online space, threatening players such as the Chicago Tribune and recently bankrupted Chicago Sun-Times.

http://espn.go.com/chicago

One could argue that this is the icing on the cake as the advertising sales team that is so used to selling such a large site as ESPN.com could make more on their advertising inventory than Chicago Tribune's ad sales teams. It all has to do with the scale of the inventory that they could package. Even run-of-site ads could then include this new local version.

Ideally, advertisers would see the value of this local site and then pay a higher CPM for getting on an ESPN branded local site.