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Sporting News leaves St. Louis

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Smasher_Sloan, Feb 29, 2008.

  1. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    agreed. it's about putting baseball ahead of other sports. you can't say that about too many cities. milwaukee might qualify but only because the packers play in green bay even though the fan base is statewide.
     
  2. Twoback

    Twoback Active Member

    What's the saying?
    Better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt?
    Yep, that's it.
     
  3. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    What's really interesting is that TSN today claims a circulation of more than 700,000. According to this article, circulation in 1962 was 178,000 and 470,000 in 1982:

    http://www.magazines.things-and-other-stuff.com/sporting-news.html

    An 18-year tenure under three owners. Not many top editors manage that.

    The advertising situation isn't so good, but since when does an editor get the blame for that?
     
  4. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    Boston's always been, really. Mass-scale Pats fandom is a fairly recent phenomenon. Like Celtics fandom in the 80's, it comes and goes with the team's success. Red Sox are the constant.
    Baltimore, St. Louis, Boston, New York, those are the cities where baseball is pre-eminent. Which is the "best baseball town?" I guess that's in the eye of the beholder.
     
  5. American City Business Journals is under the Newhouse umbrella and is known for good product and good pay.

    TSN has tried every gimmick in the book over the last decade. Maybe this move is a good thing for TSN.
     
  6. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    I suspect the circulation is propped up by dirt-cheap subscription rates. The basic one-year rate in 1962 was $12, which inflation calculator tells me is $82.32 in today's money. The 1982 basic rate was $36, which translates to $81.13 in today's dollars.

    Today's basic rate, as offered on their website, is $14.97 for one year.

    I checked one service that chases down the lowest rate and found a deal where 60 issues could be had for $3.94.
     
  7. lono

    lono Active Member

    ACBJ is a first-rate operation.

    Good people in charge and a commitment to the workers.

    You can do a lot worse.
     
  8. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    Times-Mirror and Paul Allen weren't exactly fly-by-nights. If the numbers don't add up, what are you going to do?
     
  9. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    No question. But there were giveaways in the 1980s, too. I know because I had one. My point is that it's not like TSN had this enormous circulation that's gone down the shitter. It was never very large -- we just think it was because it was "the bible" to baseball obsessives like many of us.
     
  10. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Ahh yes, the good 'ol iRace.com days ... remember them well ...
     
  11. BigRed

    BigRed Active Member

    Even those rates don't help much when the magazine is forgettable and uncompelling.
    I was a TSN subscriber from 1993 until 2007.... I finally canceled it when about a year's worth of unread issues piled up on my desk. I just realized there was nothing worth reading in it anymore.
    It was sad, but the right decision. I think my last year's subscription cost about $12.... it's sad when the money you pay in garbage rates to throw the mags away is a bigger factor than getting the mag itself.
     
  12. NightOwl

    NightOwl Guest

    How many of the St. Louis people will be making the move?

    Gotta be hard on them. Lots of long-timers there.

    Anyone know what they were offered?
     
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