OT: - SI could be no more... | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: SI could be no more...

Last time SI was relevant was when Elle Macpherson was on the cover of the Swimsuit Issue.
 
John said:
Sports Illustrated was the varsity to the junior varsity of Sporting News and Inside Sports.
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Funny, I much preferred the sporting news growing up because it didn't have any golf, tennis, horse racing or women's sports.
 
My parents gave me a subscription as a kid and I looked forward to getting it in the mail each week. I finally cancelled the subscription about 10 years ago (I had kept my subscription for sentimental reasons) as the the internet changed how you got your media coverage. When I opened the magazine, most of the articles were outdated which is similar to most magazines. And, I used to love the color pictures as newspapers were black and white. But that changed as you get get color high definition pictures and videos on the internet. Instead, I now have a subscription to The Athletic.

Private equity didn't sink SI, it was almost sunk before Meredith sold it.
 
stickybuddy said:
True, but it’s been in the hands of PE for years. I don’t think there’s any question they’re the main cause of all this.
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I don’t think PE is the cause, why would they want one of their companies to fail? It’s more that no one subscribes/reads magazines anymore. Doctors’ offices don’t even have magazines these days. Covid probably accelerated the death of magazines and offices realized there was no need to resubscribe since people just look at their phones anyway.
 
The Yakk said:
Treu, but I loved the writing in "Inside Sports". Pete Axthelm's gambling column was awesome.

Edit: found this.

sundaylongread.com

Inside Inside Sports: The Oral History - The Sunday Long Read

When Katharine Graham and the Washington Post company decided to launch the Esquire of sports magazines in 1979, they were riding high. If anyone was poised to create something touched with magic it was at the Post Company. Why then did they sell it just a few years later despite launching the...
sundaylongread.com sundaylongread.com
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Thanks much for a good read.

While I was sorting, weeding, packing, and moving last year, I located the premiere issue in a box of Vol. 1, Issue 1 magazines.

As to SI, there was no time when it wasn't delivered weekly to my house growing up, and long after I left for college & life beyond.
 
UConnJim said:
My parents gave me a subscription as a kid and I looked forward to getting it in the mail each week. I finally cancelled the subscription about 10 years ago (I had kept my subscription for sentimental reasons) as the the internet changed how you got your media coverage. When I opened the magazine, most of the articles were outdated which is similar to most magazines. And, I used to love the color pictures as newspapers were black and white. But that changed as you get get color high definition pictures and videos on the internet. Instead, I now have a subscription to The Athletic.

Private equity didn't sink SI, it was almost sunk before Meredith sold it.
Expand ...
True. But they had the inside track with a talented pool of writers, connections across sports, and a dedicated fan base. They just couldn't (or wouldn't) translate that to a different delivery model. SI could have been the Athletic with the right guidance. Now, they are the AOL of sports news...
 
superjohn said:
Last time SI was relevant was when Elle Macpherson was on the cover of the Swimsuit Issue.
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I’m going to try to write this as carefully as I can. The 2023 swimsuit cover didn’t help their cause. They were taking on water before that and that could have been the final blow.
 
Deepster said:
I’m going to try to write this as carefully as I can. The 2023 swimsuit cover didn’t help their cause. They were taking on water before that and that could have been the final blow.
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Not being privy to their inner workings, I'm still confident that had nothing to do with it.
 
I read SI weekly growing up and into my 30's. Haven't read an issue in 10+ years. They had a number of excellent writers through the years. My favorite by a mile was Steve Rushin.
 
Honestly, the swimsuit cover was outdated anyway. Why pay for a swimsuit issue when you can find plenty of good looking people on Instagram for free?
 
Deepster said:
I’m going to try to write this as carefully as I can. The 2023 swimsuit cover didn’t help their cause. They were taking on water before that and that could have been the final blow.
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I wasn't even trying to go there. None of that stuff is good for companies if they're looking to be profitable but I don't think it has anything to do with SI failing. They chose to remain a magazine company in a day and age where newspapers and magazines are nearly obsolete. The little online content I saw from them over the years was horrible and it didn't even seem like they had editors.

All I meant was SI was big back in the day and a big part of that was the Swimsuit Issue, waiting for Elle on the cover was a big deal. They haven't been relevant since that time.
 
I remember in 1980 when Rod Foster had an interior photo that took up a page and a half. That's why he's at UCLA and not UConn, I thought. And back then it had a couple pages of regional college tidbits that rarely mentioned UConn. One time it did came when Karl Hobbs grabbed an offensive rebound while flying down the lane and scooped it in high of the glass in one motion to beat Nova at the buzzer. SI quoted Hobbs saying "It was a totally tremendous play on my part." Truth!
 
Edward Sargent said:
Havent read SI except for glancing the swimsuit issue for 20 years. Kinda like the NY Times. If it wasnt for Wordle no one would read it
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Nah the NY Times is wildly successful. They have successfully pitted from print to online.
 
Print media is pretty much finished and mainstream media is damn close. I like what technology has brought us in terms of access to instant information, but good lord do I miss the charm of reading SI or the Sporting News back in the old days. When you didn't have access to instant highlights and every game out there, reading about Fernando Valenzuela or Dwight Gooden, or the events of some game you didn't see was great. It made it all feel more legendary in a way.
 
Mazhude said:
True. But they had the inside track with a talented pool of writers, connections across sports, and a dedicated fan base. They just couldn't (or wouldn't) translate that to a different delivery model. SI could have been the Athletic with the right guidance. Now, they are the AOL of sports news...
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The Athletic kind of struggles as well as it seems they don't really know what they should be.
 
My aunt and uncle bought me a subscription for my 13th birthday - Rick Sutcliffe and Dwight Gooden were on the cover of my first issue.

Looked forward to every Thursday and have the 99/04/11/14 covers framed.

Cancelled about five years ago - it had so lost its way and was doomed by the instant accessibility of news…
 
My bother was in a photo during the ‘04 campus celebrations (of a burning couch or something) that made it into one of the printed issues. I looked through the online archives recently and came up empty. Long shot but does anyone else know the issue by chance?
 

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