Letting Users Sponsor Pages

I think this can actually work

[Musicarl]

Baseball geeks like me make great use of a site that is a database of every team and every player that have ever been part of the game. This site is like our bible - need to know who played third base for the Mets in 1984 (Hubie Brooks), it will tell you in seconds. It's where I figured out that Joe Morgan did play for Frank Robinson (with the Giants).

Anyway, they let anyone sponsor their pages. This is a massive database, and I would guess that over half the pages from the modern era have sponsors. The prices are based on popularity - Bonds is over $300, but you can have Tony Armas for 20. The sponsors are both site owners (ticket brokers, other baseball sites) and fans. You get a link and a 255-character message for your money. Lots of fans leave messages about how they loved the player, and some dork even bought Dwight Evans' page just to trash the poor guy (who was actually very underrated - great arm and he knew how to work the pitch count).

If this actually works as a business model, it's a beautiful thing. For those of us with database-driven sites with lots of pages, could this be a new source of revenue? I'm thinking there might be some U2 fans out there who would love to sponsor a U2 page.

[rfung]

As a webmaster, I would have welcomed a small section where users can post comments (such as your bashing, and/or praising of a player) for free, and not charge someone for the right to do so. This builds community and repeat visitors.

Would I want to pay $xx.xx monthly for the right to have my comment posted on some player's/band's fan page?...

The other issue I see is that this baseball site is the Authority site for baseball stats/history, and as such this may work because it commands a premium over having your comment posted on some dinky fan site.

Just things to think about.