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By GREG AUMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2001
The Tampa Bay Lightning unveiled a new look for its official site this week, and it's hard to find someone more excited about the changes than Chad Estis.
Estis, the Lightning's vice president for sales, remembers a year ago, when the team opened single-game ticket sales and generated a combined $30,000 in walk-up, phone and box office purchases in the first day.
"We had the whole staff in here waiting to answer the phones," recalled Estis, relishing the contrast between then and what he experienced Tuesday: Normal staff on hand. Phones ringing no more than usual.
The team decided to open ticket sales exclusively online -- to coincide with the site's relaunch -- and held off on phone and in-person sales until this weekend. Tuesday's click-fest? More than 1,200 tickets, totaling more than $60,000 to double last year's opening haul.
"We're ecstatic about it," said Estis, noting that the team has sold 268 10-game ticket packs online as well -- about 10 percent of the total packages sold. "When the numbers came in for the first day, we were just thrilled. All that, and it's maintenance-free. If this keeps up, I might be out of a job."
It's also good news for Marty Quessenberry, the Lightning's director of Web services who has created a new design with easy navigation and several new features for hockey fans. The Daily Charge is a three-minute video clip of highlights, interviews and analysis, popular enough that 250 people downloaded it Wednesday even though the team won't open preseason camp until next week.
Two Webcams will supply streaming footage from morning skates, pregame warmups and postgame news conferences. Fans can interact with players and coaches through regular chats and Ask the Bolts, which invites questions for anyone in the organization, to be answered by video on the site.
If there's a downside, it's that the new page takes about twice as long to load as its counterparts for the Bucs and Rays. Quessenberry said with more people accessing the site through speedy cable modem and DSL connections, he wanted to keep pace with technology, which means longer download time for fans with dial-up access.
"It's a tough decision to make," he said. "It might take more time and seem a little slower, but we decided to go long-term and keep up with broadband."
For fans still logging on with 56K modems, the site will require a little patience, but then again, if they're still Lightning fans, that shouldn't be a problem.
FIRST SHOTS FIRED: Buccaneers.com has an impressively cocky intro this week, calling out the "dastardly" Dallas Cowboys and even showing Emmitt Smith with a Bucs logo branded on his rear end. "The Bucs will leave their mark on Dallas," the site says.
It's easier to talk trash when you're playing what may be the worst team in the NFL, but here's some extra motivation for the Bucs: A poll at NFL.com on Thursday asked which team will win the NFC Central, and surprisingly, the Minnesota Vikings drew 43 percent of 15,000-plus votes while the Bucs were second with 34 percent.
TID-BYTES: With advertising dollars continuing to dry up online, more sports sites are embracing gambling. Part of Foxsports.com's new look is an odds link on its main navigation bars, as prominent as schedules or scores, that's believed to be a first for a major sports site. Visitors to MSNBC.com this week who clicked on the sports link were first taken to a page advertising Casino on Net, which touts online poker, slots and roulette. ... Times sports columnist Gary Shelton will chat at tampabay.com/chat at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of the new TimesChat program that will have writers and columnists chatting every Tuesday and Thursday.
- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, e-mail staff writer Greg Auman at auman@sptimes.com.