Greg Bedard's - Boston Sports Journal

Byrdbrain

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
8,588
You are correct, he said he can't reveal who it is due to confidentiality.
Chad has said it won't be DuPont so that is good.
 

koufax32

He'll cry if he wants to...
SoSH Member
Dec 8, 2006
9,092
Duval
Any chance for the ITP talent to get some play there? Would love to see their work get exposed to more eyes and minds.
I'm looking forward to hearing some feedback from some of you on this. The SSS over there so far seems like quality work.
 

Byrdbrain

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
8,588
They are, he said on twitter iphone and andriod apps expected by the end of the week.
 

Van Everyman

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 30, 2009
26,992
Newton
This has gone live and it is free to use until the 30th.
I read a few pieces this week that I thought were really good. I might take the plunge for a year at least – these are all solid writers who deserve a platform. Even if it fails it gives these guys a chance to figure out the next time for themselves and creates more quality content for the time being in a sea of hottakes.
 

TFP

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Dec 10, 2007
20,380
If Joey Mac is the hockey guy, I'm buying a yearly pass.

As @thehitcat pointed out, it would be great for this venture to succeed.
That's pretty much where I'm at, I'd love to have full time Joey Mac back in action. The interesting thing to me is the increased access to the writers for subscribers. So it could have a functioning comments section where the writers actually respond, more intimate Q+A type chats, and even in person events the writers hold. Combine that with the fact that they're actual people I'd like to meet makes it very intriguing. Additionally - I want this to succeed to see if it'll become a viable model going forward, especially for this type of coverage.

The only drawback is Bedard himself. I am not a fan of his at all, his past approaches rub me the wrong way, especially on Twitter. When he went national, he went out of his way to shit on Pats fans and the Pats themselves. Which is totally fine and no big deal - until now he's coming back as Mr. Hyper Local White Knight here to give Boston fans the best Boston coverage only. Just rubs me the wrong way for some reason, not all of it being rational.

That said, once the hockey guy is announced, I'll likely subscribe myself.
 

TFP

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Dec 10, 2007
20,380
Well, Patriots fans are absurd.
Of course - it's not what he initially said that bothers me. It's the comeback asking for their money and pretending it never happened that rubs me the wrong way.
 

TheRooster

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2001
2,483
I'm not sure what irked you so much. I only know that he was the best beat reporter I've seen in my 40+ years of following the Pats and reading the two local papers. His Wednesday film review columns were absolute gold.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2006
8,232
Falmouth
Of course - it's not what he initially said that bothers me. It's the comeback asking for their money and pretending it never happened that rubs me the wrong way.
Yeah, perhaps some explanation would have been nice.
 

jsinger121

@jsinger121
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
17,676
Bedard responded to me on Twitter that some of the writers will cross over to other sports when their season is in hibernation.
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
Funny, I run into Greg Bedard at Starbucks today as he meets with prospective business partners for BSJ.

Overheard a few funny (or sad?) stories about wannabe sports journalists coming out of college who are sending him resumes.
 

gingerbreadmann

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
750
I signed up for a year pretty much blindly just on principle, and so far I'm liking the content and optimistic it will be well worth the money. They need an editor or editing system, though -- having writers publish several stories a day on their own will inevitably lead to mistakes, but I'm finding as many as 4-5 painful (at least to my eye) spelling/grammar errors in most articles.
 

CallYaz

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
136
Studio City, CA
Signed up for 3 years and thrilled with the Pats coverage already, and they use VIMEO ... thank god! Hoping they get enough subscribers to get an app on the iPad/iphone where you could download new articles/video for long plane flights.
 

tmracht

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 19, 2009
3,070
Yep agreed good stuff did the 3 year and really can't see much of a way this isn't worth 2 bucks a month. Especially if they keep from going hot takez!
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,050
Alamogordo
Signed up for 3 years and thrilled with the Pats coverage already, and they use VIMEO ... thank god! Hoping they get enough subscribers to get an app on the iPad/iphone where you could download new articles/video for long plane flights.
Good news for you, their daily notes today said they iOS and Android apps to be approved in the next couple days.
 

Harry Hooper

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jan 4, 2002
34,367
As TFP mentioned above, having the writers respond in the comments section as McAdam has been doing is an attractive feature. I hope that stays as the year goes on.
 

finnVT

superspreadsheeter
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2002
2,153
I'd be curious if anyone has guesses about this-- what's the number of subscribers for a site like this to work and be sustainable long term? Between 4-5 full time salaries and web hosting costs, not to mention travel, etc, I'd imagine their monthly burn rate must be pretty high, and while 2000 subscribers is undoubtedly a great start, it doesn't seem like it's even in the ballpark of supporting that.
 

Rusty13

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 3, 2007
5,346
I'd be curious if anyone has guesses about this-- what's the number of subscribers for a site like this to work and be sustainable long term? Between 4-5 full time salaries and web hosting costs, not to mention travel, etc, I'd imagine their monthly burn rate must be pretty high, and while 2000 subscribers is undoubtedly a great start, it doesn't seem like it's even in the ballpark of supporting that.
I think I read a goal would be something like 15,000 subscribers. I know the Pittsburgh model it's based on now has 20,000 subscribers.
 

Marceline

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2002
6,441
Canton, MA
I think I read a goal would be something like 15,000 subscribers. I know the Pittsburgh model it's based on now has 20,000 subscribers.
That doesn't seem like a lot to sustain something like this. If you figure 15k subscribers and an average subscription price of $50/yr (averaging 50% at the monthly rate and 50% at the annual rate), that's $712k per year.

Given the number of writers plus support staff plus travel expenses, that doesn't seem like it would work out very well.
 

Marceline

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2002
6,441
Canton, MA
I'd forgotten about ad revenue - but I wonder how much that would be in a scenario where the ads are getting ~15k unique viewers.

The Pittsburgh one has 40,000 subscribers. I'd have to think they are shooting for at least that.
 

Rusty13

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 3, 2007
5,346
I'd forgotten about ad revenue - but I wonder how much that would be in a scenario where the ads are getting ~15k unique viewers.

The Pittsburgh one has 40,000 subscribers. I'd have to think they are shooting for at least that.
Wow I was way off then. 40,000 subscribers seems pretty impressive.
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
24,829
Unreal America
He's probably getting a significant amount from sponsors too.
Not that I have any info, but I would imagine "significant" is not the right word to describe what they'll make from advertising. Internet ad revenue is a disaster at the moment unless you have enormous scale. Also not sure if they have a sales team. Absent that I would think ad sales will be done largely programmatically, which is far from lucrative.

I hope some advertisers step up to support this, but given the marketplace I'm not optimistic.
 

AlNipper49

Huge Member
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 3, 2001
44,851
Mtigawi
To be honest I don't know how the Pittsburgh place does it with 40k. As slim says, advertising on the internet today isn't something you base a business model on and the numbers floated this far also have missed paying an editor / editors. Without consistent editing it will die very quickly.

Though I'm skeptical I'm rooting for them. They're all nice guys and McAdam has helped us out a number of times in the past.
 

Lose Remerswaal

Experiencing Furry Panic
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
That doesn't seem like a lot to sustain something like this. If you figure 15k subscribers and an average subscription price of $50/yr (averaging 50% at the monthly rate and 50% at the annual rate), that's $712k per year.

Given the number of writers plus support staff plus travel expenses, that doesn't seem like it would work out very well.
We don't know how much he's paying the writers. It could be a sliding scale based on subscriptions. And this won't necessarily be their only paychecks. They can still do radio and TV (and probably will, to get the word out as well) and do other writing gigs.
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,054
The Granite State
I thought I read somewhere that the Pittsburgh model has 11 staff writers. BSJ is about half that at the moment (including the Bruins beat guy). G. Bedard said this morning that the 2017 goal is 20k subscriptions.
 

TheRooster

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2001
2,483
At 30k subs, they would be generating enough to pay a team of 5-7 without much ad revenue. They should be able to keep it pretty lean. I'm super impressed thus far and view this as a real alternative and threat to the Globe. The sports page has been my primary, but not exclusive, reason for keeping my Globe subscription up until now.
 

JCizzle

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 11, 2006
20,530
I thought I read somewhere that the Pittsburgh model has 11 staff writers. BSJ is about half that at the moment (including the Bruins beat guy). G. Bedard said this morning that the 2017 goal is 20k subscriptions.
Oomph, that seems like an aggressive target for this year.
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
24,829
Unreal America
Signed up for a year. Quality journalism of all types needs the subscription model to succeed or it's going to largely die thanks to Facebook and Google. I'm rooting for these guys.