Now that I have been eliminated from my fantasy football league, I can finally post on the NFL.com web design that I can’t get enough of.
Every Sunday I sit down and watch one game on TV and interact with about 5 others to track my fantasy players at any given time via NFL.com. The improvements the website unveiled prior to the 2009 season have made the site a favorite of mine. A great blend of layout, data and usability is in this web design. Let me highlight just a few of the features:
Complete scoreboard on every page. Integrated into the header is every game’s score, time and more.
Alerts and highlights. Not only does the scoreboard bar display the score, but it offers alerts for big plays, scoring plays and red zone plays. I can stay up on every game’s big plays and scores at once.
The Game Center. I can watch a game unfold with the Game Center. The game center page is a great blend of visual data, stats, play-by-play, player stats and more. It’s the closest to complete detail you can get without video … and they do post video highlights just minutes after many big plays.
Fan Interaction. With areas for fans to both discuss the game as it unfolds and rate the game overall, NFL.com involves the heart of their product, the fan. Although I don’t partake, I do find some solid entertainment in the fan discussion. 
I have only touched on a few of the great things the NFL’s web design involves. It really is a complete web tool as it combines usability and feature rich content for any fan to learn, interact and enjoy.
My only gripe for the NFL on the technology side of things … get an App for the iPhone! Major League Baseball has an incredible iPhone App that the NFL could learn from and even further their domination as the US’s top sport.
Tom Buchok
December 20, 2009 at 9:44 pmOne more thing to add — the video they’ve got going on the site is ridiculous. I’ve been able to keep up with pretty much every aspect of the 2009 season all the way from Spain. Highlights, commentary, etc. They’ve done a great job.
Dave Yankowiak
December 20, 2009 at 10:48 pmExcellent analysis of a site that is pleasantly fun to browse. I completely agree with you and have found myself echoing many of these sentiments this season. We don’t have network TV to our home so we do everything online. The NFL.com site has been an awesome resource, and as Tom said the video features are fantastic. In addition to the slick layout of the site, I’m a big fan of the custom RSS-builder. You can create a custom feed by team, event, author, etc. for both articles and videos. Just an all around well-planned site.
Aaron Weiche
December 21, 2009 at 12:14 amThanks for the comments guys. I briefly touched on the video, but obviously as you both point out it’s a major content piece for your guys.Tom can watch from another continent and stay up to date and Dave from the great white north! Thanks again.