Andrew Marchand, Ian O’Connor, Wally Matthews, Adam Rubin, Kieran Darcy join local destination for NY area sports fans;

Johnette Howard, Jane McManus, Rob Parker, Shaun Powell to blog and provide commentary on Greater NY sports

To tweet this release – http://bit.ly/diqPKe

ESPNNewYork.com has hired a line up of reporters, writers, columnists and bloggers for its debut tomorrow to New York area sports fans.  At launch, the site will feature original content from authentic voices that have a passion and expertise on the hometown teams and an established connection with fans in the NY area.  They include:

• Andrew Marchand (General) – Marchand has been the managing editor for ESPN Radio 1050 AM since 2007 and has provided on-air reports for over three years.  He also contributes extensively to his blog SportsClicker.  Previously, Marchand spent ten years at the New York Post covering TV sports and as the Mets beat writer for two years.  He will cover all NY area sports on ESPNNewYork.com.
• Ian O’Connor (Columnist) – O’Connor is a former a columnist with The Record of New Jersey and New York Daily News and has previously written for The New York Times and The Star-Ledger.  He has also been a frequent contributor and blogger for ESPN Radio 1050 AM for the past three years.  O’Connor is a New York Times best-selling author for his book titled Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus and Golf’s Greatest History.
• Wally Matthews (Yankees) – Matthews has covered New York sports since 1983 as a reporter, columnist, radio host and TV commentator.  He joins ESPNNewYork.com to cover the Yankees, which he’s done since the days of Stump Merrill, having worked for Newsday, the New York Post, the New York Sun and ESPN Radio 1050 AM.
• Adam Rubin (Mets) – Rubin joins ESPNNewYork.com after seven years as the Mets beat writer and blogger of “Surfing The Mets” for the New York Daily News.  He is also the author of Pedro, Carlos and Omar: The Story of a Season in the Big Apple and the Pursuit of Baseball’s Top Latino Stars, an in-depth look at the team’s 2005 season.
• Kieran Darcy (College Sports) – Darcy was most recently a general editor for ESPN.com’s Page 2.  He joined ESPN in August of 2000, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played four years of JV basketball for the Quakers.  Darcy, a native New Yorker, will cover college sports across the NY area.

Additionally, ESPNNewYork.com has hired bloggers and regular contributors that will offer their commentary on the Greater NY area sports scene.  They include:

• Johnette Howard – Howard is an award-winning writer and author who previously worked as a sports columnist for Newsday.  She frequently contributes to ESPN.com and will continue to offer commentary on general sports.
• Jane McManus – McManus, previously with the Journal News of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley, New York Daily News and Newsday, will be the site’s NFL blogger.  She recently blogged for “Jets Journal” with the Journal News, covering the Jets during the Brett Favre season.
• Rob Parker – Parker is a frequent contributor to ESPN programs such as ESPN First Take. Born in New York City, Parker, a Baseball Hall of Fame voter, will offer commentary on NY area baseball, football and basketball teams, among other sports.
• Shaun Powell – Powell is a former sports general columnist and NBA beat columnist for Newsday.  He will contribute with commentary related to NY area sports.

The site will continue the process of hiring additional reporters and writers to bring their voices and daily coverage of area teams and sports to fans via words, video and audio content.  It will cover all of the NY area major professional sports teams, collegiate sports programs and, in time, extend to regional high school coverage, a core passion for Tri-State Area sports fans.

ESPNNewYork.com launches under the day-to-day editorial leadership of executive editor Leon Carter, a news veteran with over 24 years of experience with the NY sports media world, most recently as sports editor for the New York Daily News and previously with Newsday.  He is an award-winning editor who has covered the NY area sports scene since 1984.

Features at and shortly after launch include:

• Fan engagement tools that are endemic to the local NY media world, including:
  • New York Yankees Greatest Team of All Time – an application that allows fans to compile what they believe is the Yankee “dream team” by position;
  • The Headline Machine – a user-generated tool that allows fans to create their own “back page” photos and headlines;
  • New York Sports Census­ – a snapshot of the NY area that will poll fans and count their sports allegiances by borough and region;
• A custom New York video hub, offering a library for the latest highlights, news, analysis and original content from ESPN programs including exclusive, original New York content from the teams at ESPN programs including Baseball Tonight, NFL Live, College Football Live and more;
• An integrated video and audio experience, featuring a dynamic 16×9 video player on the front page and index pages, and one-click access to the ESPN Radio SuperStream audio player with live 1050 ESPN audio and access to ESPN’s catalog of podcasts and on-demand audio;
• Community and social media tools such as Fan Profiles, SportsNation chats and polls, ESPN Conversation pages, local Twitter feeds, ESPN Fantasy and Arcade games, Stadium Guides and ESPN Passport, ESPN.com’s digital fan scrapbook;
• Real-time scores, GameCasts and video highlights;
• Clubhouse pages from all Tri-State area professional and college leagues;
• Photo galleries featuring images from New York area events;
• An ESPNNewYork.com mobile Web extension that will launch as http://espn.mobi/ny, bringing the news, features, scoreboards, and more to fans on their mobile devices;
• The same innovative local and national advertising opportunities that ESPN.com offers.

The launch of ESPNNewYork.com coincides with the ESPN2 telecast between the 2009 World Series Champions New York Yankees against their biggest rival, the Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park on Sunday, April 4.  Both ESPNBoston.com and ESPNNewYork.com will be on site covering all the action at the ballpark.  Sports fans from the two rival towns will also be able to participate in Cover It Live conversations on both local sites.

For a preview image of ESPNNewYork.com, click HERE.

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