KC Star offering sports-only digital subscription

Per their sports editor. (He hedges a little, but I can’t imagine he’d put this out there if it wasn’t happening.)

 

When I moved away, more than a decade ago, this would have been a no-brianer subscription for me. Now I'm already subscribed to The Athletic for Royals and, to a lesser degree, Chiefs stuff. I get KU and colleges from a variety of places.

I might still sign up, but once again newspapers are playing catch up.

 

In markets where all the main sportswriters are at one shop, this would be a great idea and popular with a lot of sports fans, I think. Problem is, most markets are sectioned off. Get NFL coverage from one paper and NBA coverage from another, etc. So if you would only read for one team's coverage, would it be worth it?

 

Is it better than the Athletic? That’s the question.

I’m guessing it’s close

 

Let me ask you, what prevented you from subscribing to the Star for your KC sports before the Athletic came along?

I have multiple digital newspaper subscriptions, and the most expensive is $10 a month, and I get a hell of a lot more than just sports coverage. What kind of deal are you getting from the Athletic that made you pull the trigger for just the Royals and Chiefs coverage?

 

The Miami Herald (same company) announced this would be happening there last week. I’d expect the other McClatchy shops to have similar offerings.

 

Part of it was that the Star was free for years amd years. Then it started limiting how many free stories you get per month. I don't live there and the Royals coverage was the only thing I really wanted and wasn't able to get elsewhere.

Then The Athletic hired away Rustin Dodd and launched college football and basketball platforms, which was enough for me to pull the trigger.

 

The price for the McClatchy sports-only plan is pretty appealing. I'm wondering why this hasn't been done more commonly ...

 

. . . and 10 years ago. Sigh.

 

Well at least he got the order correct.

M-I-Z...

 

Understandable. It just seems that you would've received Star coverage of essentially the same teams for a similar price that you're getting from the Athletic. And the Star staff is excellent. But if you are looking for a different kind of coverage, then subscribing to the Athletic makes some sense.

 

The Athletic’s KU football coverage is going to be amazing.

On a serious note, good for the Star. Gotta do something rather and sit around and wait for the paper to die. They have good writers on staff. There’s no reason they can’t do what The Athletic does, or better.