If you recall, about a month ago I reviewed the official Ravens website. Since the regular season is now in sight I figured it was time to see what the Ravens pages look like from the five networks that broadcast NFL football.
When browsing any website I always look for three main design features: look and feel, navigation and content. All of the websites in this review were strong on look and feel and navigation. I didn’t find any major issues in those categories for any of the five sites. The differences came down to content and with that said I devised a little comparison table to help you see how I arrived at the final grades.
The categories below were based on research of many sites and the points awarded were based on the following system:
3 points: feature is there as expected and has a little extra compared to the other sites
2 points: feature is there as expected
1 point: feature is there as expected, but not as complete as the other sites
0 points: feature is not there at all
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Site
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NFL.com
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CBS Sports
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ESPN
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Fox Sports
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NBC Sports
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Link to official team site
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Access for game tickets
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page-last game score
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Upcoming Schedule
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Injuries
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Main page- Latest Transactions
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (1 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (1 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Main page- Team News
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Current Division Standings
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Current Record
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Yes: (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes: (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Individual Stats Leaders
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Yes: (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Team Stats Rankings
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Main page- Head Coach Bio
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Yes: (3 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts):
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Main page- Find Team gear/Shop
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Links to- Stats
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Links to- Schedule/Results
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Links to- Roster
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Links to- Depth Chart
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Yes (1 pt)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Links to- Team Transactions–
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Yes (3 pts)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Yes (1 pt)
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Links to- Injury List
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Links to- Coaches Bios
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Yes (3 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Links to- Draft History/ 2007 Draft Results
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Yes (3 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (2 pts)
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Links to- Team History
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No (0 pts)
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Yes (1 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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No (0 pts)
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TOTAL POINTS
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46
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34
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38
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28
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25
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NFL.com (46 pts) – This site was very strong across the board and scored extra points in seven of the 22 categories. The team and player stats updated for the preseason is especially nice for fantasy players. The two most notable features I like here are the schedule and results dating back to 1999 and full bios with photos for the entire coaching staff. The one gap was no content on draft history.
Grade- A
ESPN (38 pts) – As expected this site was also very solid. Although it was lacking on a few key content issues from the main page for transactions and stats leaders it had the best draft content. But speaking about transactions, ESPN listed them back to 2001…no other site came close. ESPN was also the only site other than the official Ravens site to have a complete draft history for the 1st round picks since 1996.
Grade- B+
CBS Sports (34 pts) – It seems like CBS hypes its site more than the other networks during their NFL broadcasts so I expected this site to be the winner. CBS was strong on the roster page design as it featured a sort function on every column. It’s nice to have the option to sort by name, number, position, college, etc. This site came up a little short on historical content since its transactions section only went back six months and the team history page did not list the 2006 division title. Overall though, the site is solid with a healthy dose of good content.
Grade- B
Fox Sports (28 pts) – This site is good, but I doubt I would frequently go back. I was pleased it was not full of those goofy animations you see on the Fox TV broadcasts…like that silly rock-em sock-em robot looking player they show going to every commercial break. Fox came up with 0 pts in 6 categories and nothing on this site stood out over the others in a positive way.
Grade- C
NBC Sports (25 pts) – NBC scores high on shock value because when you go into the team pages you get redirected to Sports Illustrated.com. I had no idea previously that NBC and SI were online content partners. The SI content is nothing special and this site was the only one not to have some kind of injuries listing on the main page. The look and feel is cool, but there is not much else to make a fan bookmark this site over NFL.com, CBS or ESPN.
Grade- C-
