Juggling Finals and the Final Four
While most law students are busy studying for contracts and torts, Shawn Siegel also juggles running the nation's most popular independent college basketball site.
(PRWEB) March 25, 2005 -- The bottom floor of the Washington University law
library is packed with busy students. But unlike most law students, Shawn Siegel
isn’t working on Contracts or Torts, he’s working on UNC, Kansas, brackets, and
the RPI.
Siegel runs Collegehoopsnet.com (CHN), the largest independent
college basketball site on the web. CHN is visited by over 12,000 die hard fans
a day, who stop in daily to check out the latest news, commentary, and rankings
from the world of college basketball.
Juggling law school and a
successful web business isn’t easy, but there are more than enough benefits to
make it worthwhile. CHN generates revenue through advertising agreements with
ticket brokers, apparel companies, and other online businesses. Siegel, and the
over 20 contributing writers, have developed a strong enough reputation that
they are credentialed by a wide variety of NCAA teams and conferences. This past
week, you could find Siegel on the floor of the Missouri Valley Conference
finals held in St. Louis, while other CHN writers are scattered across
tournament venues around the country.
How has CHN grown so quickly in the
two years since Siegel founded the website while he was a senior at Washington
University? By staying unique and avoiding the Duke-centric focus of the major
media players like ESPN and CBS. Siegel jokes, “Even if Dick Vitale‘s only heard
of JJ Redick, there’s so much great basketball being played outside of the ACC.”
CHN has found its niche by focusing on the so-called Mid-Major conferences that
don’t get pub in the national media, interviewing their coaches and players and
covering their events live.
By being different than the big boys, CHN is
now considered to be on the big boys. If you go on the popular Google search
engine and search for “college basketball”, CHN is listed 3rd, trailing only
ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
Not bad when you consider Siegel only
started messing around with websites as a chance to spout thoughts about his
beloved New Jersey Nets. Soon the Nets became college basketball, his own
thoughts became that of over 20 journalists, and a hobby became a business.
“Honestly, I never thought it would get this big,” he notes, “but once it
started growing, I had to capitalize and turn into a serious business.” Siegel
came to law school hoping to become a successful sports agent, but the way
things are going, he might one day be hiring a law department of his
own.
For more information, please visit http://www.collegehoopsnet.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb221573.htm