When NBC Sports partnered with football blog Pro Football Talk and its founder Mike Florio last year, the goal was to boost the company’s web presence. Now it seems, it is going both ways.
Florio announced late last night that he will be appearing on the “Sunday Night Football” post-game show with Bob Costas this upcoming season. His will be starting September 12, following the Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys matchup. He will also be taping a web-only feature with Rodney Harrison during each SNF game.
Florio is not a stranger to TV, as he notes in his post he appeared during the halftime show for a handful of Notre Dame games on NBC last season.
The addition of Florio to the “Sunday Night Football” lineup further legitimizes the power of blogs in the modern sports era. While they ere once shunned, teams, leagues and media organizations have since learned that they are not necessarily the enemy.
Regional Sports Networks like SNY have partnered with blogs to boost their online content, and have given bloggers air time as well. National networks like NBC Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN have been following suit.
In this new media landscape, news organizations need the passion that blog readers bring, while bloggers, quite frankly, could use the money.