ChicagoSide partners with the Sun-Times

ChicagoSideSports.com announced a new content-sharing partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times today. I know the only real buzz ChicagoSide has gotten on here has been over letting Mariotti write again, but beyond that, it's been an extremely intriguing venture that Jon Eig and Sol Lieberman have undertaken. I find this deal interesting, not just for the Sun-Times and ChicagoSide, but because this business-model could be something that gives rise to more sites like ChicagoSide.


Obviously I'm biased (I've written a few columns and a couple features for ChicagoSide), but if you can look beyond what was probably a decision (taking Mariotti's submissions) made to make a splash, I think their work has been extremely smart and appealing, and they've had some insanely talented/accomplished writers producing content over the last nine months (I'm honored to even have my name on the same page as some of these guys.) And, chances are, this deal kills off Mariotti since the Sun-Times will want nothing to do with syndicating his content digitally or in print.


Like I said, I'm biased and I hope this deal works out wonderfully for both ChicagoSide and the Sun-Times, but it fascinates me for other reasons, as well. I know that these syndication deals are far from revolutionary, but this is one of the first times I've seen it done on a local scale. There are a lot of really smart local sports websites across the country, and partnerships like this one could be a way to subsidize some of the feature content from capable journalists that these sites can't afford to pay for on a regular basis. Plus, they can do all that while increasing their own traffic.


It's clearly a win for the website. Whether or not it winds up being a profitable endeavor for the paper is the real question.


Links: (Sorry hyperlinking on this message board confuses me.)


http://chicagosidesports.com/quick-hits/chicagoside-partners-with-chicago-sun-times/


http://jimromenesko.com/2013/01/24/jonathan-eigs-chicagoside-sports-site-partners-with-sun-times/ (Read the comments under this Romenesko piece. Jim takes Mariotti to task for blabbing his scoop to other media reporters after taking a quote from him.)

 

Oh, Jim Romenesko is in a snit now, isn't he?

That was a stupid harrumph. That's how the business works -- you always have to calculate who might let the cat out of the bag and you have to be ready to go so they can't.

 

Ya, I'm not sure how you can get all bent out of shape over that. Because Mariotti seemed SOOO trustworthy, right? That's laughable.

 

Romenesko threw his Starbucks coffee cup to the ground when he found out.