The Sporting News is one of the iconic brands in sports media. However, like most longtime standards in the print magazine world, it’s gone through a major transformation into the digital age. The Sporting News printed their last edition in 2012, ending a lifespan of the magazine that dated back to its launch in 1886. To put that into perspective, The Sporting News came into existence in the same year as Coca-Cola and Grover Cleveland was president.
Now in its new digital life, The Sporting News has undergone a few more transitions. Recently they announced a partnership with Fox Sports to create a new, unified entry for the all-important comScore rankings. This March, American City Business Journals (who bought TSN in 2006 and moved the company’s headquarters to Charlotte) sold their remaining shares in The Sporting News to London’s Perform Group. Perform now owns 100% of The Sporting News after acquiring 65% in 2013.
And now The Sporting News is moving full-speed ahead into the digital age. The Charlotte Agenda reports the company is interested in hiring between 80-90 part-time workers and data editors to staff their bustling operation in the city.
According to the Agenda, The Sporting News currently employs 70 full-time employees and draws 11 million monthly visitors. With Perform’s leadership, the company has focused a lot of resources on video throughout the digital transformation. Now with the addition of scores of new part-time jobs, The Sporting News is expanding their workplace and staff in the hopes of continuing to grow their now fully digitalized media company. The company The Sporting News is constructing from the ground up is a business model that will be familiar to many who work in digital media.
The resurrection of The Sporting News from print to digital is a fascinating case study of the evolving media world. Along with Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News was one of the defining publications in sports media. After shutting the doors on the print edition, they found a way not only to keep the doors open, but to revive this long-standing enterprise. The Sporting News has been completely remade to better survive and thrive in 2015’s media landscape.