Col Hogan wrote:It can be done...but the economic model says someone with deep pockets is going to have to back it up if you want anything close to the "slick" ESPN-look...
I think it could be done for about 150 to 200k with:
- a 6 month development cycle
- A few new college graduates to handle HTML/PHP/Java programming, database specialist, and one experienced coder to act as a lead. Websites use a pretty high level programming language so its not like you need guys skiled in more difficult languages like C or assembly.
- a UI artist and maybe one other general artist for asset preparation
- ESPN's website while not very complex, is a very large and deep website. This FCS website would need to be be scoped down for an initial launch. But it can always grow if it starts making money.
- going through a third party web hosting company to start with
Someone would be needed to provide the creative direction and manage deliverables from coders and artists. Ideally this is whomever decided to launch the project, assuming they are competitent in managing software development and is able to provide the creative vision for the site. If said person is also skilled with art programs, basic work like asset preparation of school logos could be handled by this person to cut down on costs even more.
Assuming you have all of the above, then it becomes the balancing act that all software development must endure:
Quality - you want to put out something that people want to use/visit but not spend too much doing so
Scheduling - you gotta have your deliverables organized but also prioritize your most important items and deliver in an order that makes sense
Budget - you need to spend money to achieve quality, but also not spend too much