Michael Silver leaves Sports Illustrated for Yahoo Sports

Let me let the uninformed in on an industry secret. Guys who make millions of dollars a season don't just decide that they want to sit down with you and spill their guts because you're offering a $500 dinner. Unless Silver was sponsoring an orgy at Scores, free dinner and drinks doesn't mean squat.

 

But I'd think it stands to reason guys will open up more over the course of a nice dinner than in a more conventional interview setting. It's certainly an advantage Silver had at Sports Illustrated, though I wouldn't call it "paying for access."

 

I don't see anything wrong with that. You use the guns ya got. More power to him.

 

Right. But if that's what DOH was talking about -- and I'm not totally sure it was -- it's a fair question to ask whether Yahoo will be as generous with the expense accounts as SI was.

 

i've already been chided by a yahoo!.com writer for not taking into account how the web site is among the leaders in web-site "hits." sorry, but i just don't see p.r. guys doing somersaults to help set up someone from yaho! like they do for someone from s.i. don't minimize that, either.

maybe that day will come but.... just my opinion.

 

I don't equate traffic with Yahoo's arrival as a news source. Maybe it's just habit, but I can't remember the last time I checked yahoo for news -- it's still ESPN and SI.com, in that order. I go to Yahoo when I'm looking for a phone number or driving directions ...

Who was the NFL player that PK took to like a $400 dinner? Freddie Mitchell maybe? Can't remember, and sorry to threadjack ...

 

Yahoo reaches millions more readers than SI ever will. The day when Yahoo will compete on equal ground is here.

 

Yeah, but goalmouth, because people didn't get Yahoo in their mailbox once a week when they were growing up, the fact more people read Yahoo than SI doesn't count

 

i'll believe it when i hear anyone talking about anything they've read on yahoo!.com. like i've said, maybe that day is coming. i've simply yet to hear any evidence other than web-site hits, which i'm not sure anyone really understands. yahoo! covers much territory. does a hit mean the site has been looked at? a particular story has been looked at? what? ??? ??? ???

 

No way yahoo sports does.

No one I know. No one. Goes to Yahoo to read those guys.

 

A hit is a misnomer, since it usually counts ads, text and other elements on a given web page. What counts are page views, that is, a single reader viewing a single page.

Yahoo has the kind of resources for investment in journalism we only wish print had. Once Yahoo decides to make a serious push as an originator and not just an aggregator -- and that may in fact be the case right now -- they'll knock off ESPN.com as an online sports news provider.

 

I agree that Yahoo! Sports is going to need another platform to grow. ESPN isn't going to bring them on, perhaps a tie-in to Fox Sports Radio?