Changes at the Sporting News?

I think that's a copout excuse in some ways. The writers, I assume, are doing the best they can under the circumstances they have been dictated by the editors. If the style of content is boring, it's probably the editors fault for not getting it spriced up. Not Kindred's or Pompei's.

But do you really want a TSN version of Scoop or Bill Simmons being 'immaginative?' would that help, really? Or does TSN need to invest money in marketing, promotions and such rather than cutting costs by letting the faces of the mag go?

 

good question - if they change it is it TSN? or some mutant?

one approach: they could go retro. recreate it exactly as it was 50 or 60 years ago. retro hip. plug into nostalgia - market itself as a museum piece - a genuine museum piece (not unintentional, as it currently is)

 

Just saw an online subscription offer for 60 issues of TSN for $5.95.

 

It's a complex issue. The ad campaign has to, must, sell more ads. Sporting News is without ads, and that's embarrassing, seeing all the ads in SI and ESPN.

But the writers have to write better stuff to get those ads. And the editors have to be cutting-edge, and find writers who can write on the cutting edge.

I was there in '97 when TSN went to glossy paper, and we thought the ads would come rolling in at that point. They never did, and they still aren't.

It was a kick in the teeth back then, and it's probably worse than that now. Hard to find your niche with SI and ESPN, but it seems apparent that the effort hasn't been pushed enough from when I was there -- editorial, advertising, marketing.

Even worse, if they tried all that, they failed badly.

Buff it up, TSN. Better writers, for a start. Better ad reps, and then an innovative marketing approach.

But if you're offering 60 issues for $5.95, it looks like the end is near, and maybe that means next month. It would be a shame. But if you can't play with the big boys, you're not trying hard enough.

That goes back to leadership. You can't win without good leaders in this industry, especially now, and I wonder why the TSN leaders never could get a grip on how to be a major player in this race.

What the hell, I guess they didn't make it past junior college.

 

I, for one, am tired of seeing references to the $5.95 subscription rates.

Those are frauds committed by petty thieves who have nothing to do with Sporting News. Send them your $5.95 and see if you EVER get a magazine. Better yet, report the fraud to the real Sporting News distribution people. You don't see it with SI and ESPN because their legal departments are at full alert 24/7 and armed with nuclear weapons to obliterate fleas. No such protection exists at the Sporting News. Another of its business-side weaknesses.

Hey, BYH, exactly how many Sporting News staffers have come to this board and stomped and wailed, to use your phrase, about criticism?

I've seen nothing but constructive ideas offered by people who want the Sporting News to be a viable third option on a national general-interest basis.

 

I've been on two papers that were having near-death experiences while I was there (one eventually died) and another that is always marginal -- not on death row, but has upheaval among top management every couple of years, making for near-panic because everyone knows heads will roll soon. It is a bit frustrating in those environments to hear radical ideas from well-meaning outsiders because A.) you know significant increase in resources isn't going to happen and B.) as you enjoy eating, you would prefer a slow, lingering demise to a quick one, and radical change offers the most potential for the latter. You would like to improve things, but not at the risk of making things worse.

If we can believe TSN's media kit, the readers they have like the product. They spend more time with TSN than readers spend with SI and ESPN mag:

http://www.sportingnews.com/mediakit/print/magazine/readers.html

You don't want to throw that away. You might not like the product, but some people do.

I see their problem more as an advertising one. It doesn't appear that they've been able to convince national advertisers to come aboard, and I don't see that it's likely they will. I suppose if it were my problem, I'd want advertising to go to the three cities where TSN has its strongest circulation and see what the local/regional advertising potential would be if TSN were to start zoned editions for those cities. If they think there is enough potential, try it. If it works, add more cities.

 

I have used the same brokers who offer those deep discounts and have gotten the subscriptions every time. Can't speak specifically to TSN, but they've worked for GQ, New York, ESPN and several others.

 

So everybody's available cheap, not just Sporting News. Makes my point better than I did.

 

I think a fox was just outfoxed.

 

Really? What point is that?

 

a reasoned rational approach.

what is it doing on this board?

 

I think my point was that the penny-ante rate has no relation to a magazine's quality.

Also, I probably should have qualified my earlier post by saying that the suppositions of fraud were told to me by Sporting News customer service people.