Reds add features to Web site

The Cincinnati Reds have a bunch of new bells and whistles on their Internet site, but those are coming from Major League Baseball offices in New York.

The 30 clubs last year created a company — MLB Advanced Media LP — to handle Internet operations. Like all the other clubs, the Reds ponied up an undisclosed amount to finance the new venture.

But the benefits are real. The site, still reachable at www.cincinnatireds.com, already has a changed look. When the system is up and running later this month, it will perform searches for video clips, play fantasy games and allow live radio broadcasts.

So a Reds fan who wants to see video of Barry Larkin's last four at-bats against left-handed pitchers can find those clips, said Jim Gallagher, a spokesman at MLB Advanced Media.

Customers also will be able to buy merchandise and tickets over the site. Those orders are taken in New York, and the merchandise is sent directly to the customer without ever passing through the Reds' Cinergy Field offices.

MLB Advanced Media employs about 65 people in its Manhattan offices and eventually will have two workers on-site with every major-league team, Mr. Gallagher said.

The teams contribute most of the content, but the central company edits it and posts it on the Web site.

Mike Ringering, the Reds' director of communications, said the team never would have been able to afford the technology provided in the centralized site.

It's ironic that baseball, which has long resisted sharing revenue between big-market and small-market teams even when sports like basketball and football took that step, is moving in that direction on the Internet first.

“You won't have one team's site dominating another site because that other site can't afford it,” Ringering said.

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