Team ESPN plays major league 'soccer ball' with Aura Sports

US sports broadcaster ESPN has signed a deal with UK start-up Aura Sports for the management of its online ad sales this side of the Atlantic.

ESPNsoccernet.com will work with Aura Sports - a silicon.com 'Start-Up of the Month' last October - to increase revenues on the site as the US finally wakes up to the potential of the game they call 'soccer'.

The very nature of football websites, which are reliant on team loyalties and regionalised pockets of interest, means global companies must establish localised advertising strategies if they are to make the most of the market.

Similarly a US company is likely to find richer pickings for 'soccer' content away from its own domestic market where sports such as American 'football', Baseball and Basketball are king - a fact Aura Sports will be hoping to cash in on. For example, the European Champions League, with its big-name teams such as Real Madrid and Manchester United, is likely to drive far larger ad revenues than Major League Soccer, which boasts the Colorado Rapids and Dallas Burn to name but two.

ESPNsoccernet.com attracts more than three million unique users each month.