Google, ESPN Partner To Enhance Sports Search Results

ESPN and Google have rolled out the first wave of what we presume will be enhanced search results for many sports. In a post to the Google search blog earlier today, the company discussed how the search engine plans to supplement NFL search results with ESPN data this season. From the official Google Search blog...

"Just as the NFL season kicks off and you have your fantasy football league ready to go, you’ll be able to get useful information such as the latest scores, schedules, standings and stats for football-related queries in your search results. Last week, we started showing MLB results in partnership with ESPN and we’re now expanding sports live results to include the NFL. In addition to information on the football league, teams and players, you’ll also have direct links to previews, live streams, updates and game recaps. We hope to add more and more sports information on google.com, so stay tuned."

In another recent blog post, Chris Jason, Senior Manager of Product Development, ESPN Digital Media, explained how Google will leverage ESPN's content.

"Now, when you use Google to search for baseball-related information – such as teams, players, and scores – the results display high-level athlete information, stats, game scores, and links to key content on ESPN.com, including game previews and recaps, video highlights, photos, schedule, and roster information," Jason explained. "You will also be able to interact more easily with some of ESPN's key products like GameCast, scoreboards and player pages."

With baseball and football rolled out, Google and ESPN are setting their eyes on similar microdata-enhanced results for other sports including basketball, hockey, and soccer.

Though it doesn't appear the microdata will be tied to advertisers in the initial roll-out, could we soon media partners, or the leagues themselves, partnering with search engines to distribute sponsored data as a form of added value for their partners?

#newstag