Long time Pittsburgh reporter leaves paper to start own site

How much would he actually make of that 120?

 

120k in revenue does not equal 120k in take home pay.

Expense come out plus all the business taxes and social security taxes. If he walked away with $60k after taxes and expenses he'd be lucky. $60k for two people is not great. He claims he is going to have ads and a corporate sponsor and his goal is 10k subscribers. He might not need 10k to make it work but he will need a lot more than 5k.

Within 24 hours he had 1000 so that's a good start.

 

The article in the Pittsburgh City Paper mentioned a major sponsor is in the works. Just wondering how some sportswriter convinced a major company to ditch the CPM model for cold, hard cash?

As for how much Kovacevic would keep, it would depend on how much he plans on traveling. The part about traveling to cover the teams is the one that has the potential to sink the ship in the next few months.

Also, remember Kovacevic is on the hook to pay the self-employment tax, or his portion of FICA, which adds up to about 15 percent instead of 7.5 percent.

 

Do you pay for access to any sports site?

I've been an ESPN Insider before, but that was when it was included when you subscribe to The Magazine.

I don't know that I'm unwilling to pay for access, but I would have to be convinced that I'm getting something there that I can't get anywhere else for free, and that doesn't happen.

Having 1,000 subscribers that quickly is great, but those are probably the die-hards. I'd be surprised if he ever got to 5,000.

 

Pittsburgh is a unique market and Kovacevic has done an excellent job _ more so than any other sportswriter in the city _ of embracing and cultivating a pretty substantial following through various multimedia platforms.

Whether that translates to subscribers/unique visitors etc. as he goes out on his own remains to be seen. Feel free to question his judgment if you like, but to be honest, I think we should be rooting for him _ or someone _ to make it work. Ballsy? You bet. Impossible? Nope.

 

Completely agree. After I was let go, I had the option of pairing with another writer who had been let go to do a local site. He had the web experience, and I had a bit of name recognition and could promote the site on my radio show.

I balked because the startup costs were going to be high, and I didn't think we would get subscribers, because they could get more thorough coverage from the local papers for free, and I didn't think I had nearly enough draw to get subscribers to pay $6 a month for access.

He got the site going three months later after another writer was let go and it didn't last a month.

 

He's very good. If he can get advertisers, I think he can be successful. I don't think the subscription model works very well.

I agree we should all be rooting for him.

 

I agree with you. I've never subscribed to any site, and I probably never will.

 

Plus you have health insurance for both of them that isn't subsidized by an employer, accountants to make sure all those payroll taxes and other taxes get paid, plus processing fees for the CC companies. Also, he better have some good Web people on the payroll to keep things fresh, professional looking and dependable. And safe payment methods online.

Get a few subscribers who have trouble logging on or have their CC info compromised, and it is lights out.

I also hope he makes it, but I'm like others above and would never pay for such a service. Maybe I'm cheap, but who isn't these days?

 

It's not a question of cheap. It's a question of value. If you're a NFL fan, there really isn't much you can get from a local writer that you can't get from anything on ESPN, CBS Sports, SI, Fox Sports, etc.

The exception might be a writer who really gets into the nuances and the technological aspects of the game. There are only a few writers who do that. McClain and McGinn jump to mind. Bedard does that well for MMQB.

 

Off topic, but all I keep thinking about throughout this thread is Phil Steele. How profitable is his preview magazine? How many people help him on it? I guess that's why it could be profitable, because he's known to do nearly all the work on his own.

 

The thing that hasn't been discussed: It isn't even the money needed, or the likely lack of money to be made that might do him (or anyone else) in.

It's the energy.

Think about how hard you worked in your newspaper career. Now think about working, and having to work, three times harder than that, even, because you're on your own and going it alone.

Everything must be self-generated, and must continue to be self-generated and maintained -- all the sources, all the ideas, all the work, all the contacts -- and all the money.

That, by itself, is what largely causes many who might try this to just stop and give up. It's kind of like being a freelance writer, except on steroids, because you'll get no direction or assistance from the media entity; you'll have to be doing it all, more or less, in a vacuum, and that wears on people after a while.