Where are we heading next? (Sports journalism)

As we enter the last weeks of 2008, the world is heading towards a crisis. However, the crisis I'm speaking of is not the economy or the automobile industry. The crisis is in the newspaper industry. Some of the biggest newspapers in the United States have cut down on pages due to lack of advertising. The Chicago Tribune has reportedly sought out bankruptcy protection. The New York Times is seeking a $225 million mortgage off its Headquarters.

At the same time, according to Technorati, the internet is seeking a surge of blogs dealing with all different topics and subjects. Blogs have become a major part of the daily internet goings, with a reported 94.1 million blog readers in the United States alone, according to eMarketer (May 2008). That is roughly 50% of the United States who use the internet. Needless to say, blogs have their own audience, whether small or big.

One of the ways newspapers have tried to recoup losses and attract readers and advertisers to their websites is utilizing blogs. According to the Technorati study, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs. However, despite the growth in blogs, newspapers are still struggling to gather advertising and funds from the medium, though Technorati reports there is money in blogging:

Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it’s paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.

In regards to sports journalism, some newspapers have taken a hit. Most notably is the New York Times, which has combined the sports section with the business section. However, due to the rise in sports blogs, fans are able to gather as much up-to-date information about their teams as possible.

One of the most famous New York Yankee sports blogs known is the LoHud Yankees Blog, written by Peter Abraham, a beat writer for the Journal News. Even though baseball is now in the off-season, throughout the Winter Meetings, the blog had nearly 5,500 comments in a matter of three days. In addition, as Abraham said in a December 1st, 2008 post about November:

Meanwhile, thanks to everybody for reading last month. Despite the relative lack of activity in baseball, we had 1.1 million page views on this blog.

From its humble beginnings in late February of 2006, the blog has gathered a large and local fanbase who carry on conversations and even friendships outside the comments section. The blog also has given once a little-known beat writer opportunities to speak on other sports networks like ESPN. The blog also has explored different areas of journalism, including video and live blogging, and has as up-to-date information about the Yankees as he could possibly provide.

Abraham is just one of the success stories associated with sports blogging. Larry Mahnken started up Replacement Level Yankees Weblog (RLYW) in late April of 2003, one of the most respected and well-received Yankee fan blogs. RLYW offered bits of Larry's criticism with elements of sabermetrics to study the statistics more closely of each player. Due to the respect he earned, he was able to help start up The Hardball Times two years later, a well-read online baseball magazine.

These two men are just two prime examples of what professionally-done, well-respected, and well-advertised blogs can bring to a writer. Using various techniques including linking blogs to comments and linking blogs to search sites like Google can bring vast numbers of unknown readers to see posts. I know that experience head-on.

When I was a writer for MVN: The Bronx Block (on temporary hiatus for now) in late May of 2008, I wrote a piece about former Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina and his eligibility for the Hall of Fame. It was by far the most read post I have written. I used links to pass into various websites and because of the high readership, my post itched up Google search results for "Mussina Hall Fame". In fact, a few months after my post was up, one college professor from Buffalo sent me this comment:

Kenneth W. Regan — September 18, 2008 @ 9:53 pm

Fabulous post, comes up high on Google mussina hall fame, which is how I found it. I think another 10-12 win season, so he gets to 280, would make him an eventual lock. He gets props this season for keeping the Yanks alive thru Labor Day. Getting W’s next Tuesday and Sunday would help too!

As blogs continue to be used both a form of communication and information, people will continue to get information at a much quicker rate, either through professionals or amateurs. As this post has shown, some writers have been able to cash in and get notoriety for their work. However, the popularity of sports blogs and blogs in general bring about a question that has yet to be answered: "will the newspaper soon become irrelevant?"

If big newspapers don't adjust quickly to the potential cash-cow blogs can bring, some big names can become irrelevant. For newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times, the pressure is on now to adjust to the 21st century. Clearly, blogs are the future and newspapers must move along with it, or else, they may be another casualty in our economic recession.