AOL is changing the name of its sports site from AOL Sports to FanHouse.com, the name of its popular blog.
Along with the rebrand FanHouse will feature columnist Jay Mariotti, Kevin Blackistone and Lisa Olson, who will provide daily commentary and analysis on all things sports related.
AOL says FanHouse will continue its tradition of Super Bowl reporting and will still feature the “Super Sunday Ad Poll,” that allows users to watch and vote for Super Bowl commercials.
The launch of FanHouse comes after 12 months of growth and expansion at AOL Sports. Since December 2007, unique monthly visitors to AOL Sports grew 21 percent (from 9.1 million to 11 million), page views surged 142 percent (from 142 million to 345 million), total time-spent increased 65 percent. It is now one of the top five most visited sports sites, according to comScore Media Metrix.
“Over the past year, AOL has had tremendous success in growing its sports audience and FanHouse has become one of the premier brands in online sports media. With the addition growing stable of world-class writers, FanHouse will provide a daily must-read for any serious sports fan,” said Marty Moe, Senior Vice President, AOL News, Money & Finance, FanHouse, KOL and Weblogs.
FanHouse blogs, focused on individual professional and college sports teams, will continue to provide users with a place to discuss news and events of their favorite teams.
AOL says FanHouse plans to grow in 2009 and it will launch a number of vertical sites with coverage aimed at specialized sports fans, including a Mixed Martial Arts site among others.
