ANOTHER network about to start up (recruiting)

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
There is Rivals, Scout and ESPN, and soon to be 247sports.com.

They are going to be in the premium subscription line of work. I know that Shannon Terry is a part of it, formerly of Rivals (sold it to Yahoo) and the publisher of the Alabama Rivals site, which was the biggest site on Rivals, at least before the OrangeBloods.com month of June...

Terry sent me a message through facebook last month asking me if I would be interested in their network, but I declined, just as I did when ESPN contacted me a year ago to become a part of their network. I am committed to the free model, and it's working, as each of the past four months has been the busiest specific month (best March, best April, etc) we have had in the decade I have been doing this.

It will be interesting to watch it play out, as I feel the subscription genre/model is overcrowded to begin with and also feel that it's halcyon days are behind it.

And today's events underscore it; you have football coaches tweeting about commitments...you just can't monetize that sort of breaking news any longer, and I wonder how long people will be interested to pay for info on Jimmy Two Star's list of 10 schools and what his bench press is. That's not all it is, as guy's like Rob Howe put out some excellent feature work and introduce people to kids that might be Hawkeyes.

But you also have newspaper beat writers that are covering the recruiting 'beat' now too...it's a crowded street.

It also sounds like some properties owned by Landmark Publishing may wind up with 247sports, as some folks I used to work with when I was with Rivals/Landmark told me that the current Rivals has cut ties or will be cutting ties with the Landmark properties. Voice of the Hawkeyes is one of those properties, but I don't now how that will impact the current rivals site, or if they are a part of the new arrangement.
 
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I wonder how long before some of these kids get tired of people contacting them about what they are planning to do. On top of coaches you now have 15 different sites calling you asking why you like the coach and school.

Maybe the one advantage of this new site, it will take out the spin which rivals and scout sites always seem to put in their recruiting articles.
 
Good info to know, Jon...thanks for sharing. I used to be a subscriber to your old site on the scout site. I guess the main feature that I enjoyed was the premium board, but that was a few years ago and things are changing and news hits right away. It will be interesting to see if some of these pay sites start disappearing, I can't imagine they can all keep operating?
 
I cant see how the magazines are relevant any more, at least the monthly ones, as the info is old hat by the time it hits the stands and for the time that they stay on the stands, it gets way way old. Whats the point when much of it is online or in newspapers.
 
I cant see how the magazines are relevant any more, at least the monthly ones, as the info is old hat by the time it hits the stands and for the time that they stay on the stands, it gets way way old. Whats the point when much of it is online or in newspapers.

I think for the majority of the years we put it out, HN magazines was full of solid features. Rob is arguably the best feature writer that I have personally known, and he put together so many good ones.

But it became a chore to do that mag and the day to day site, together...tough to give each what they deserve.
 
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