The Hockey News owner Graeme Roustan and Maven CEO Ross Levinsohn last month launched a partnership under which THN became the exclusive provider of hockey-related content for Sports Illustrated, giving SI the "legitimacy of a legacy brand, without the overhead and headaches that might come from adding staff," according to Simon Houpt of the GLOBE & MAIL. Before the deal, the sport had "all but disappeared from the magazine," and Maven’s contributor model had been a "laughable substitute for the pros who used to fill" SI's pages. For Roustan, the move is "more of a marketing play than it is a search for digital ad revenue." SI.com/hockey has been replaced by THN's website, "complete with subscription offers for that magazine." Roustan said that THN has "about 68,000 subscribers," with about 30% of those in the U.S. -- so "gaining access to tens of millions of digital SI readers could be a boon." Roustan said that since his PE firm bought the publication in '18, he has "invested millions of dollars in the brand." Roustan's next move is to build out a "network of 32 sites, one for each NHL team co-owned by himself and a local bureau chief." He "expects to launch the first site" -- covering the Maple Leafs -- next month, with the "other six Canadian team sites to follow." The timing of the 25 U.S. site launches "will depend on when the NHL’s 2020-21 season actually begins" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/26).
