Comments on: The Sweeper: MLS and the Monolithic Media http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/ A soccer blog featuring essays, news and photography exploring soccer around the world Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:59:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Sweeper: Montreal Impact Win USL-1 Crown | Pitch Invasion http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9994 The Sweeper: Montreal Impact Win USL-1 Crown | Pitch Invasion Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:28:39 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=3341#comment-9994 [...] Media naval gazing corner: Andrew Buscholtz at Sporting Madness is doing an excellent job reporting back on a sport blogging conference in Las Vegas.  Of particular interest is his latest installment on increasing blogger access to professional team, even if some clubs grant it so that bloggers, as one panelist mentioned, can become better “brand evangelists” for a particular club.  Missing from the debate is any mention of the further degradation of living wage sports journalism. [...] [...] Media naval gazing corner: Andrew Buscholtz at Sporting Madness is doing an excellent job reporting back on a sport blogging conference in Las Vegas.  Of particular interest is his latest installment on increasing blogger access to professional team, even if some clubs grant it so that bloggers, as one panelist mentioned, can become better “brand evangelists” for a particular club.  Missing from the debate is any mention of the further degradation of living wage sports journalism. [...]

]]> By: Paul http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9632 Paul Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:16:24 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=3341#comment-9632 On a somewhat related minor side note-- work with ESPN and Yahoo to make a true standard Fantasy (Rotisserie) Soccer game available on-line (leagues with player drafts, with categories similar to hockey (G, A, SOG, Yellow Cards; GK wins, GK clean sheets; something like that)). During the Spring and Summer, only baseball is available in a "standard" fantasy game, and sports nuts (who don't typically follow soccer) may end up dabbling and get more interested in MLS. ESPN could allow "player universes" that include EPL (and others) as well. I found myself watching some NFL games this weekend that I ordinarily wouldn't have, because I have players running around who are on my fantasy team. On a somewhat related minor side note– work with ESPN and Yahoo to make a true standard Fantasy (Rotisserie) Soccer game available on-line (leagues with player drafts, with categories similar to hockey (G, A, SOG, Yellow Cards; GK wins, GK clean sheets; something like that)). During the Spring and Summer, only baseball is available in a “standard” fantasy game, and sports nuts (who don’t typically follow soccer) may end up dabbling and get more interested in MLS. ESPN could allow “player universes” that include EPL (and others) as well. I found myself watching some NFL games this weekend that I ordinarily wouldn’t have, because I have players running around who are on my fantasy team.

]]> By: Mr. Baker http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9434 Mr. Baker Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:21:30 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=3341#comment-9434 That's what I figured too: $100K to break even. I do think you could get some advertisers though. Maybe not many, but $10K a year should be feasible. That leaves $90K. I think $10/month is too high a pricepoint. Something closer to $5 would be better. According to my math, you'd need 1,800 people at that price. Tough to do, but not impossible. How many season tickets does each team sell? A lot more than 1,800 in some cities. Those are your potential clients. Throw in a discount for everybody who signs up for the year upfront (the WSJ does this. Of course it would undercut revenue a bit, but would give you some upfront cash). Strike up a partnership with your local soccer pub (Nevada Smith's here in NYC) where subscribers get a free pint at away game viewings or something. Maybe sell T-shirts on the site, or trinkets of some type. It can definitely be done, you just need to keep the operation super-duper lean to save costs. So no office (don't need one anyway), forget about staying at the team hotel (stay at motels or better yet with friends and family where you can). Forget about a marketing budget, obviously (though partnerships are certainly possible). I actually have the infrastructure set up on my site to do this for every MLS team. But I don't have the startup capital or the energy, at least not yet. That’s what I figured too: $100K to break even. I do think you could get some advertisers though. Maybe not many, but $10K a year should be feasible. That leaves $90K. I think $10/month is too high a pricepoint. Something closer to $5 would be better. According to my math, you’d need 1,800 people at that price. Tough to do, but not impossible. How many season tickets does each team sell? A lot more than 1,800 in some cities. Those are your potential clients.

Throw in a discount for everybody who signs up for the year upfront (the WSJ does this. Of course it would undercut revenue a bit, but would give you some upfront cash). Strike up a partnership with your local soccer pub (Nevada Smith’s here in NYC) where subscribers get a free pint at away game viewings or something. Maybe sell T-shirts on the site, or trinkets of some type.

It can definitely be done, you just need to keep the operation super-duper lean to save costs. So no office (don’t need one anyway), forget about staying at the team hotel (stay at motels or better yet with friends and family where you can). Forget about a marketing budget, obviously (though partnerships are certainly possible).

I actually have the infrastructure set up on my site to do this for every MLS team. But I don’t have the startup capital or the energy, at least not yet.

]]> By: Tom Dunmore http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9431 Tom Dunmore Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:27:55 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=3341#comment-9431 Mr. Baker -- that's an interesting idea. Maybe it could work, it would certainly be interesting to come up with a business model for it: you'd probably need to generate around $100,000 to pay for a full-time writer and all associated expenses (mainly travel, of course) to do the job of an old-school sports beat reporter. So you'd need almost 1,000 people willing to pay $10 a month for a subscription (can't see people paying more than $10, and advertisements wouldn't generate a lot of revenue if most of the content was behind a paid wall)....I'm not sure any MLS team has that kind of fanatic support yet. But some kind of subscription model is definitely an interesting possibility. I'm surprised no newspaper has tried that yet for some niche parts of their business that would attract fanatics: I bet the Tribune could find 1,000 Cubs fans to pay for "insider" coverage, for example. ESPN has tried that with their own "Insider", associated with the Magazine, which I guess has been successful enough for them to keep it around. Mr. Baker — that’s an interesting idea. Maybe it could work, it would certainly be interesting to come up with a business model for it: you’d probably need to generate around $100,000 to pay for a full-time writer and all associated expenses (mainly travel, of course) to do the job of an old-school sports beat reporter.

So you’d need almost 1,000 people willing to pay $10 a month for a subscription (can’t see people paying more than $10, and advertisements wouldn’t generate a lot of revenue if most of the content was behind a paid wall)….I’m not sure any MLS team has that kind of fanatic support yet.

But some kind of subscription model is definitely an interesting possibility. I’m surprised no newspaper has tried that yet for some niche parts of their business that would attract fanatics: I bet the Tribune could find 1,000 Cubs fans to pay for “insider” coverage, for example. ESPN has tried that with their own “Insider”, associated with the Magazine, which I guess has been successful enough for them to keep it around.

]]> By: Mr. Baker http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/30/the-sweeper-mls-and-the-monolithic-media/comment-page-1/#comment-9430 Mr. Baker Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:21:31 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=3341#comment-9430 I think you can have a news site (not a blog) devoted to covering an individual MLS team. You only really need one full-time person for the job, with others perhaps helping out part time with editing and ad/subscription sales. What's that? Subscription sales? Yes, paid subscriptions. It's the only way you're going to generate enough revenue to make the enterprise worthwhile. I think there's enough demand to pay for a site that has solid, well-written, constant news updates (including breaking news wherever possible) on an MLS club I think you can have a news site (not a blog) devoted to covering an individual MLS team. You only really need one full-time person for the job, with others perhaps helping out part time with editing and ad/subscription sales.

What’s that? Subscription sales? Yes, paid subscriptions. It’s the only way you’re going to generate enough revenue to make the enterprise worthwhile.

I think there’s enough demand to pay for a site that has solid, well-written, constant news updates (including breaking news wherever possible) on an MLS club

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