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The new SI site is scheduled to make its debut this week.
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Sports Illustrated on Tuesday is scheduled to debut Campus Rush, a new digital destination devoted to the culture and lifestyle of college football.
The site, at campusrush.com, will focus not on week-to-week matters but rather on elements such as the daily lives of players and coaches, tailgating, fans, and the atmosphere in major college towns. The effort also is a continuation of SI’s strategy to build a broad digital network with many specific destinations, such as TheMMQB.com, SI Edge, SI Swim Daily, Planet Futbol, and the forthcoming SI Films, among others.
Campus Rush will be led in part by SI’s staff of college football writers, including Pete Thamel and Andy Staples, whose weekly “Inside Read” column will now become a daily feature on the site. But that group will be supplemented by a group of campus correspondents, student journalists attending each school in the five power conferences, Notre Dame and Brigham Young. Those student correspondents will contribute video and social media content in addition to written stories.
SI also will leverage content from 120 Sports, of which it is a partner, for use in Campus Rush. Another 120 Sports partner, Silver Chalice, is an owner of CampusInsiders.com, and will aid in the initiative.
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Campus Rush will focus more on fans and college atmosphere than what happens on the field in college football stadiums.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“This is a big opportunity to cover the sport in a different way,” said Paul Fichtenbaum, Time Inc. Sports Group editor. “College football obviously has become immensely popular, but we think we can go beyond the X’s and O’s, have some unique storytelling, and really dive into the pageantry of what makes it so special.”
The site will carry presenting sponsorships from Finish Line and Go RVing Inc., a coalition of manufacturers, dealers and campgrounds promoting recreational vehicle travel. Each is already an SI partner.
Go RVing will sponsor a tailgate tour that will make 10 stops between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. SI has conducted such a tour twice before, but it now will be a key element within Campus Rush.
Each tour stop, featuring a variety of celebrity chefs and special events, plays to SI’s intent to build more live events into its business model. The company has pursued such a strategy with the annual release of its swimsuit and Sportsman of the Year issues, as well.
“Experiential has become a very important part of our media mix,” SI Publisher Brendan Ripp said. “And these kinds of deep dives into dedicated verticals have been a very successful strategy for us. Advertisers enjoy being able to ‘own’ certain areas without clutter and it has driven very high renewals.”
SI executives said they were not yet certain whether Campus Rush would move into college basketball coverage as well, but Ripp noted it was a conscious decision not to have football in the site’s title.
