Sports Illustrated has fashioned its largest integrated sales program ever in support of the seminal magazine's 50th anniversary.
The yearlong program begins in July with the first of four double issues; the regular weekly issues will also include content on the best of sports across America as the publication celebrates what it is calling "America's Sports Illustrated: 50 years, 50 states, 50 sports" with features on the unique sporting character of each state.
Complementing what will be a minimum of 500 editorial pages dedicated to the anniversary is a traveling SI exhibition that will criss-cross the country. The football-field-sized road show will make hundreds of stops and customize exhibits for what is determined to be a state's top sports event, which also will be the subject of editorial coverage. While some of the choices are obvious, like the Little League World Series for Pennsylvania, others aren't, such as South Dakota's Lakota Nation Invitational Basketball Tournament.
The grassroots emphasis hearkens to a time when SI covers routinely depicted sports beyond the major leagues.
"Sports in America aren't confined to what you see on television," said SI President Bruce Hallett. "People yell just as loudly at their local high school football game as they do watching the Super Bowl."
A charitable tie-in to the anniversary program continues the theme of grassroots sports. SI will raise money for both the YMCA and the National Recreation and Parks Association, an amalgamation of 6,000 local park and rec agencies. SI will offer a free six-month subscription to every resident of the state covered that particular week for a minimum $10 donation to the donor's local Y.
"News will always dictate our coverage," said SI Managing Editor Terry McDonell, "but the more we can connect to where people play at home, the better it will be for us."
SI is selling one presenting and three or four top sponsorships for the programs, with the packages priced between $6 million and $12 million. Publisher Fabio Freyre said he hopes to have completed deals with automotive, credit card, footwear/apparel, technology and retail brands by the end of January.
The four quarterly anniversary issues begin with a look at SI's birth year, 1954, a time when pro sports were consumed more via radio or in person than on TV, and when the NFL was a second-tier league.
Subsequent issues will reprise the best of SI's covers (Bob Hope made an appearance in the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, at a time when he was a part-owner); the best of SI's standard-setting sports photography; and, finally, an examination of the contemporary American sports scene.
The road show, being produced by IPG agency Jack Morton, will showcase SI's legacy with photos and covers, along with interactive events and a stage area. Warner Music will supply some emerging talent. In addition to sports locations, the touring event will visit college campuses tied in to the anniversary and retailers.
Supporting elements on sportsillustrated.com include a handful of twenty-somethings motoring across the country to provide first-hand accounts of unique sports experiences, such as shoveling manure at the Kentucky Derby or driving the Zamboni at Minnesota's annual statewide youth hockey tournament.
A TV extension is being explored. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that in an AOL Time Warner corporate culture famed for lavish anniversary celebrations, like Time magazine's 75th at Radio City Music Hall or even SI's own millennium celebration, no black-tie fete is planned.
"We didn't want to pound our chest and have a birthday party," Hallett said. "We wanted to reclaim the importance sports at the community level has in this country."
