Sports Illustrated layoffs

There are still a lot of hunters and fishers in this country. They could do worse. In another sign I am old, I remember when every big city daily had a hunting and fishing beat guy, even the Boston Herald.

I remember those days quite well.

Fishing and business go together, too. Anglers spend about $46+ billion annually, more than $27B just on travel-related expenses, and that's from numbers in a 2016 US Fish & Wildlife Service report.

Numbers of hunters and anglers are declining a bit but they, and millions of other people who love the outdoors in different ways, are still out there, interested in all forms of content presentation, and shouldn't be overlooked. Sports Illustrated wouldn't be dumb at all to add a mix of those things into their coverage (if it makes money for them in some way).

 

Also probably helps knowing a) what the magazine line-up is weeks ahead so you can target ad sales to specific advertisers (mountaineering, shooting, fishing, camping) and b) being able to let them know that the mag will be in the racks for three weeks and change.

 

A: My subscription
Q: What is in jeopardy?

 

But every time I think my subscription is almost done - they cut the number of issues so it's extended. I will say I like the new paper they're using. I do wish it was a little more current and relevent - even if it is a monthly.

 

weird thing, isn't it? everyone loved to say how much they found the gamers and weekly commentary and scorecard items increasingly useless -- and, I guess, they're right when it comes to timeliness. but that front of the book, event-driven coverage informed the back-of-the-book bonus stuff more than we think. that juxtaposition brought friction; the Gary Smith/Deford-type stuff was cool precisely because it seemed so off-beat compared to the of-the-moment pieces up front. without them there, though, a magazine full of bonus pieces (and some of them in this first issue were terrific) comes off as a bit...unmoored.

maybe I'm just feeling a phantom limb. maybe that passes with time. monthlies like vanity fair and The Atlantic have a way of seeming urgent. ESPN the Mag certainly did fine work without the weekly heat. but maybe there's something about the immediacy of sports, the visceral thrill of games and fandom, that needs to be there for sports coverage to seem vital. maybe ESPN the Mag got that from the daily broadcasts, and you carried that with you into the pages of their magazine.

maybe. we'll see.

 

About the things people deeply care about - like the episode of Game of Thrones that they just watched - they'll seek and consume almost any content on said thing. The NYT and Washington Post goes in hard on Trump coverage - I mean, what else is there to know about the guy that'd change your opinion of him - because people want more and more of it. Those papers are surging because of it. CNN ran hours of Trump coverage in 2016 because it knew there was a big audience for it.

Where news organizations start to get in trouble is when the folks in charge start getting too many ideas about what should be covered, be it for "traditional" reasons (we've always covered the hell out the single A team that feeds into the frickin Tigers' organization!) or progressive ones (this is what people should care about and we're going to make it so) or self-interested ones (we can't stop winning these awards and regardless of what people want to read, we're doing this takeout on a picayune subject).

Sports Illustrated has made decisions and hires that don't at all seem rooted in what people would pay for (or advertisers would advertise for).

 

Just a heads up - I checked my subscription/renew date on the latest issue and it hasn't budged since they went monthly - should have extended out at least six months. I already fired off a complaint/"question" asking them if I should contact the Better Business Bureau.

 

The BBB is a joke.

 

I realize that - just figured I wouldn't mention the state AG's office on my first pass.

 

I cancelled my subscription a year ago and they just keep sending me free editions.

 

Well I got a reply from their customer service department. Not sure if they don't understand my complaint - about extending subscriptions due to the cut in issues - or just aren't honoring subscriptions paid to previous ownership. Hell of a way to run a business.

 

Feb issue arrived today (96 pages)

Mikaela Shiffrin is the covery story
Kobe Bryant death story
Aging quarterbacks free agents story
Jimmy Butler story (Sidebar on the Thunder)
Christian Pulisic story
All-Star Cafe robbery story
Paraolympic cheating story