S.F.-based Quokka Sports is profiled by OUTSIDE
magazine's Mark Lasswell, who writes that the company's
"self-promotion has been as extreme as the events it
presents," as an ad that was part of a $5-10M "media blitz"
last spring called Quokka the "most freakin' amazing 24-hour
live sports coverage available today." But Lasswell also
writes that "being first ... may not be such a good thing.
Virtual adventure is as yet an unproven genre on the
Internet, one still desperately trying to work out the
kinks, figure out where the profits are going to come from."
Lasswell wonders if Quokka can "go up against corporate
behemoths" like ESPN, Fox Sports and CNN/SI, "which Quokka
may eventually be vying with for rights" to events. But
Lasswell writes the company "has been retrenching" under its
new COO Alvaro Saralegui, who has "pledged to make" the
company "more customer friendly" and has so far "expanded"
the two-person sales staff to 16. He has also "attacked
spending, targeting the practicality of the company's
approach to adventure-sports events such as the 'First
Ascent' expedition, which was entirely funded by Quokka.
Saralegui: "A media company is not an event-creation
company. Those are two very different things, and for
people who came from a technology background [essentially
the entire Quokka hierarchy], that subtlety, I think, was
lost." Saralegui says the company remains "intrigued" by
adventure programming, but it will only commit to events
with partners who will share the costs." Saralegui: "We're
not writing checks like we used to." Lasswell concludes
that Quokka's joint Web venture with NBC for the 2000, 2002
and 2004 Olympics could be "either a watershed event or
Quokka's last gasp" (OUTSIDE, 12/99 issue).
