ESPN.com is slated to get a major redesign this January, John Skipper, the sports networks’ EVP of Content, told ContentNext Media’s EconSports conference. In a Q&A with NYT TV sports and business reporter Richard Sandomir, Skipper said that the revamp will be video-centric, including a larger video player and a new navigational scheme. He also talked about ESPN’s various content platforms, including how important (yet still nascent) ESPN360 is, how ESPN The Magazine is faring in the horrid economy, and even what the company would do better than NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) if it got the Olympic bid.

—They’ve got the most sports video, period: That includes original content and game footage. “There’s this idea that the leagues have all the video, when in fact we have more than anybody because we have deals with all the leagues except the NFL. We put up between 125 - 150 new pieces of video each day … we expect to have about 2 billion views per day online next year.”

—ESPN360’s audience is small, but growing: “Our audience is still only in the tens of thousands right now, but sometimes we get hundreds of thousands (of viewers)… It’s grown 400 percent in usage from September 2007 to September 2008 … It’s a unique product that has an opportunity to drive a ton of value, namely because it’s a 24/7 network. It’s not linear and we can show multiple games. Users can watch 11 live games simultaneously if they want, they can get international product like cricket and rugby matches, European, Asian and Latin American sports that they can’t see elsewhere.” 

—It has been harder to monetize: On the ad front, Skipper said that tech issues have complicated ESPN’s online ad plans. “We’re still working on the technology, because it’s a bit complicated when it comes to advertising. There were 3,000 live games shown on ESPN360 in the last year, but all the games are produced for TV and sometimes the ads need to be stripped out … but we’re close to figuring out how to put the right commercials in.” There’s also the option of partnering with broadband providers. “We can provide them a marketing advantage—we give it to them for free, and they can say, ‘this is what comes with your package’—and users will pay for it.” More after the jump.

—Riding out the recession: “It would be short-sighted to suggest that we’re immune in any way, but what underpins everything is how many people are consuming ESPN (NYSE: DIS). This fiscal year that just closed September 30 was the most viewed on TV, most used (via ESPN.com), most listened to on ESPN Radio, and more people reading the magazine, so we’re in a pretty good position to do well in any condition. That said, we don’t take money lightly. We don’t believe in under-working our staff and our costs are great—and we want to sustain our operating efficiency.”

—Bucking print’s downward spiral: I asked Skipper how ESPN The Magazine is positioned amid an economic downturn that has only added to the print industry’s pains. His response: “The magazine market is very difficult, but we’re doing very well. We’re hiring great writers ... we can deliver that content digitally and generate revenue from The Insider, which subscribers pay for. We look at very little in isolation at ESPN, but the magazine reaches 13 million people in just two weeks, so we’re very happy with it.”

—They still want the Olympics: ... And they want to do them right. As for what that means, at least in Skipper’s eyes, is this: “NBCU broadcast the Olympics in what seemed to be the best way for them. We’re just a different company. I’m not suggesting the way we’d do it will be right or wrong, but it will be better for us. We don’t believe we’re serving sports fans by making them wait four or five hours to see an event, which is why we show Euro soccer in the afternoon, and we just got rights to cricket in India, which we think will be a good product for 3 am. We’re not anti-time zone in our company, and we know that there are lots of sports fans up at all times of the day.”