Israel-based Sportingo, a site which lets sports fans publish match reports and opinions, has bought CaughtOffside, a popular UK soccer blog, for an undisclosed amount. It’s a small deal. Founded by Chris Toy as an independent blog, CaughtOffside won the sport category in the recent Ask.com/Metro UK Best of British Blogs 2007 awards. The site has a close relationship with fans, and runs both display ads and Google ads, but Toy has already written 84 articles for Sportingo having enjoyed a relationship with the site from the start. CaughtOffside will continue to operate independently – Sportingo chairman Tal Barnoach said he bought it because both sites concentrate on the fans and depend on user-generated content. Of course, while Sportingo is trying to develop a sports news community by asking its users to contribute the articles, it’s likely Toy’s literary skills they are buying – attractive content up-front could drive those users as readers, before they generate their own content. He will become chief editor, where Sportingo reckons his experience in user participation will be valuable. (Release).
Update: Sportingo told paidContent.org CaughtOffside gets 200,000 unique monthly visitors.