The Big East Flirts with Social Media...
Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 10:45PM 
Are you looking for new ways to commemorate historic games? Are you looking for new ways to leverage social media in the collegiate space?
In July, the Big East officially launched SixOvertimes.com, a microsite designed to commemorate the historic 2009 men's basketball quarterfinal game between the Syracuse Orangemen and the UConn Huskies. The site, created by row27 Studios (located in Minneapolis, MN), features 10+ minutes of video from the game, including an eye-catching introduction video and a vignette detailing each overtime period of play. Users can also purchase an exclusive DVD and several photos on the site and check out box scores, player profiles, and key facts from the game.
The SixOvertimes microsite is extremely interesting because it could signal the start of a new trend in collegiate athletics (and all of sports for that matter) - conferences and athletic departments creating microsites around individual matchups/historic games to drive incremental revenue. To make the site a viral phenomenon, Big East officials provide users the opportunity to share the site's content through email, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (check out the Big East on Twitter - @BigEastChamps).
Users who click the Twitter function on SixOvertimes.com find that it automatically pastes a message into their Twitter stream (Relive One of the Greatest Basketball Games in Big East History http://SixOvertimes.com) to share with colleagues and friends.
A special thanks to Garret Munro of the Ohio University Center for Sports Administration for his insights and contributions to this column!
Source: SyracuseAthletics.com