The worldwide leader takes on the final frontier : an early analysis of ESPN's local sports web sites in Chicago and Boston /by John Haisten Willis, Jr.

This study analyzes the content of ESPNBoston.com and ESPNChicago.com compared to that of the Chicago Tribune???s Chicagosports.com and the Boston Globe???s boston.com/sports using agenda setting as a theoretical framework. ESPN???s agenda in local sports coverage may differ from the Tribune and Globe sites and therefore may have an effect on sports coverage in those cities if its sites gain widespread popularity. The study found that ESPN???s agenda was focused on major professional sports, while the newspapers focused on sports at every level in their regions. At this point, it cannot be determined how successful ESPN will be in its attempt to wrestle market share of local sports coverage from each city???s newspapers