New SI publisher The Maven "'definitely' plans to keep the print version alive while pushing to better compete with ESPN online," according to Keith Kelly of the N.Y. POST. The Maven CEO Jim Heckman pushed back against stories claiming last week's large staff cuts are "part of a plan by the publisher ... to replace journalists with bloggers." He said, "It's a total fabrication." Heckman did acknowledge the "intent to create '200 distinct team destinations' for each team in the four major pro-sports leagues, as well as the top Division 1 NCAA teams." However, he added that the plans call for "hiring 'professional, press-credentialed journalists' for every team in North America." Heckman noted that each journalist will get a "guaranteed base, plus royalty payments based on subscriptions and advertising generated for each team site." Heckman added that the plan for the print product is to "revamp it to focus on in-depth stories as the digital push takes hold." Kelly noted that three studios will be built that will "produce 20 hours of news per day." A new SI app will debut in January to "help bolster digital traffic." Comscore's August rankings showed SI.com drew just 17 million unique visitors a month, while top-ranked ESPN.com drew 86 million. Heckman: "We want to be in first or second place in real-time (sports) news" (N.Y. POST, 10/9).
GOING DIGITAL: Journalist Jeff Pearlman on his latest podcast talked to writer Joan Niesen, who was let go by SI last week after more than five years with the company. The Maven said it will put more emphasis on SI's website, but Pearlman said, "They screwed up with the website so badly so long ago that there's nothing there and there's no real reason to go look at it." Niesen said SI "did get a bit hampered by the divide between the print and digital." She added SI was "lucky enough to be producing this amazing premium print product, that there was so much value placed on that when other people's values were shifting ... towards the digital space." Niesen: "I don't know that we were ever able to put a value on some of the digital products" ("Two Writers Slinging Yang," 10/7).
TEAM CONCEPT: In Boston, Chad Finn wrote shifting SI to "team-focused content" is the "most insincere idea in sports media since Fox Sports foolishly pivoted to video at the expense of a talented writing staff" in June '17, and "it's going to fail." Finn: "It's a miserable situation for everyone but the soulless vultures that are enacting the plan. ... Sports Illustrated deserves better" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/6). In Nebraska, Don Walton wrote SI has been "taken hostage and looted" in a "devastating blow to long-form sports journalism" (LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR, 10/7). The GLOBE & MAIL's Cathal Kelly wrote, "At some point in recent years, Sports Illustrated has ceased to be an idea and instead became a brand. Once that happened, it was doomed. ... Sports Illustrated is not dead yet. It's something worse. It's a zombie version of its old self" (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/7).
SAFE SPACE? In N.Y., Dennis Young wrote the round of layoffs "isn't about making SI better; it's about carving out and stealing slim profits." Young: "The real tragedy here is that Sports Illustrated is doing excellent work right now. There's money to be made in that; SI's new owners would rather go for the safer, smaller payday" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/5). However, BLOOMBERG NEWS' Stephen Carter wrote there is "no magical shield protecting Sports Illustrated from the tsunami that has engulfed the rest of the magazine world." Carter: "The flood is washing away profits. ... Critics should recognize the inevitability of these events in a world where print is shedding readers in droves. If the critics can think of a better way to return SI to profitability, now is the time to shout it from the rooftops" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/9).
COLD COMFORT: The Athletic's Richard Deitsch talked to former SI staffers Scooby Axson and Mary Agnant about the layoffs, and Axson said he was told by HR on the afternoon of Oct. 3 "matter of factly" about being let go. Agnant noted an initial meeting on that day was scheduled and then canceled. She said, "They asked everybody to please stick around for the rest of the day because they were hoping that the meetings would be rescheduled for later, which is a little bit absurd to ask people who know they are about to get laid off to just hang out at their offices. And also not great practices from an HR standpoint." Agnant noted many SI staffers who were retained "came with us in solidarity," which was "incredible and just shows the kind of people that work" at SI. Deitsch pointed out the lack of "care and compassion and the true callousness of letting people go who had worked there for multiple decades, giving them essentially very little warning -- if no warning at all --- that this was coming." Agnant said of The Maven, "These people are just tone deaf. ... We were never even addressed by anybody from The Maven." She added, "It was incredibly callous and inconsiderate and just cold, really cold-hearted." Axson agreed, saying, "I was in the military, and they didn't even treat us that coldly" ("Sports Media with Richard Deitsch," 10/7).
