Redesigned MLSnet.com launches
New, improved features keep MLSnet.com as nation's leading soccer Web site
"We're excited to continue delivering Major League Soccer's fans a state-of-the-art portal for the league and teams," said MLS President Mark Abbott. "With expanded video coverage, streamlined navigation, interactive content, a new international section and new photo galleries, we believe MLSnet.com is one of the leading soccer sites in the world."
The most obvious change is the new look and feel of the site, incorporating many features that make it easier to deliver the latest news to fans the world over. These features include a new and improved homepage scoreboard, rotating lead story area and headline stack associated with each lead story.
The area of MLSnet.com reserved for lead stories, known as the Front Line, has been expanded, as have the thumbnail photos used to guide readers to each of the day's most vital information. These changes help better highlight the independent content available on MLSnet.com.
As part of the new design, the site's embedded Flash video is larger and clearer, making it easier to see highlights from recent games, press conferences and interviews. With the new look, the presentation of news headlines has also changed -- it's now possible to see related stories in the stack of news links to the right of each Front Line story. As each Front Line panel rotates, a new set of items (including increased video, audio and shop options) will appear, allowing the user to get a more well-rounded view of the day's content.
For users not able to catch games live over the weekend on MLSnet.com's video package, MLSLIVE.tv, the new MLSnet.com scoreboard will contain all of the important information from the most recent games. Including not only the score and the game-winning or game-tying goal scorer, video links will send users directly to highlights of the game without the user having to perform any additional searching or scouring to find the video they're looking for.
The new look and feel of the site has also made it easier for fans to go see their favorite teams live and in-person with a simplified path to each team's Ticket Center.
Two new features of the site are the international and photo gallery sections. Photos from games, as well as from select community and team-based activities, are housed within a Flash-based photo gallery that can now be accessed directly from the homepage.
In addition, as MLS becomes more involved on the world stage, MLSnet.com will cover the league's participation (through tournaments such as SuperLiga or the league's players being involved in Gold Cup or Copa America) as well as key events around the world that don't include MLS directly but have an impact on the global sport of soccer.
Daniel Polinsky is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
