Paying for internet sports news?

[Mainstreet]

There seems to be a growing trend towards internet media asking the fan to pay for news in particular sports news. It's not anything new but I'm wondering if fans are going to start digging in their pocket to pay for this.

Any thoughts about this and where are fans subscribing?

 

[Chaplin]

This goes back several years when ESPN started charging for Insider. Waste of money because it isn't breaking news, its basically just commentary, and there are any number of ways to get that for free.

 

[Mainstreet]

I like a number of writers at The Athletic Arizona but I doubt if I will subscribe. Some writers like Scott Bordow may not be breaking the news but they prove detailed information not always found elsewhere.

 

[Raindog]

It's malarkey. I wouldn't pay to read the opinion of some writer/pundit who isn't even especially more well-informed nor (nowadays, with the advent of social media) more privy to breaking news than your average sports fan.

 

[overseascardfan]

This is why I stopped visiting Scout & Rivals messages boards. Their writers / mods would ban people from posting free info they had because it was more detailed and accurate than they were. Don’t blame people if they are more in the know because you are trying to sell people garbage info that isn’t very informative or is second hand knowledge.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Sports radio is free. Quit going to ESPN because they got rid of the forums for us idiots.

 

[Mainstreet]

Sports radio is free. Quit going to ESPN because they got rid of the forums for us idiots.

I know what you are saying but I do not regularly listen to sports radio because a lot of it is speculation. I'd prefer to stick with a few good writers who have built their reputation on being credible.

Arizona Sports has a lot of good articles and it is free.

 

[Hoop Head]

I like a number of writers at The Athletic Arizona but I doubt if I will subscribe. Some writers like Scott Bordow may not be breaking the news but they prove detailed information not always found elsewhere.

I liked Bordow's Suns coverage a lot but knowing he won't cover the Suns for the Athletic is one of the many reasons I won't be paying for their service. I don't understand the logic behind that. He seemed to enjoy his job covering the Suns but they moved him to the Cardinals and put someone new in charge of the Suns. That is a questionable business decision on their part. They lucked into signing the Suns beat writer from AZCentral and they could have offered people continuing coverage of the Suns by him at a point in the franchises history when things should be trending upward but they decide to go a different direction.

Beyond that bad decision though one of the reasons I really liked Bordow's coverage had to do with his coverage on Twitter, where he'd host regular Q&A sessions also. I would imagine working for a company like the Athletic that is charging people to read his work, they won't be too happy if he's giving away freebies like that on Twitter. That's part of the problem with pay models, they limit their writer's availability and sometimes they end up eliminating what they become known for or at least one of the main reasons people follow them for coverage.

ESPN suffered when they pushed Insider because they took away the content from a lot of good writers and hid it behind a pay wall but not long after they introduced Insider it seemed like they started removing Insider articles more and more to feature Insider Podcasts. That was in the early days of Podcasts and it made some sense why people would pay for those back then but Podcasts are everywhere now. The podcast market is so plentiful now that it seems like paying for access to some would be crazy but it shows how the internet has flipped also. You can listen to podcasts for free but if you hope to read something then you'll need to pay for it. There's been a weird flip over the last decade or so.

 

[SunsFanFirst]

Maybe Bardow had a non-compete clause in his azcentral contract and cant cover the Suns for a set amount of time?

 

[Superbone]

Nah. (As far as paying for internet sports news.)

 

[Dr. Jones]

I have always been a fan of insider. Got the magazine free (digital and paper) and now am getting ESPN+ for free.

All of the AZCentral stuff is garbage though. They are missing a ton of page views putting Somers and McManaman behind a pay wall. Not worth it.

 

[Superbone]

I have always been a fan of insider. Got the magazine free (digital and paper) and now am getting ESPN+ for free.

Stealing or how did you get them for free?

 

[Mainstreet]

I liked Bordow's Suns coverage a lot but knowing he won't cover the Suns for the Athletic is one of the many reasons I won't be paying for their service. I don't understand the logic behind that. He seemed to enjoy his job covering the Suns but they moved him to the Cardinals and put someone new in charge of the Suns. That is a questionable business decision on their part. They lucked into signing the Suns beat writer from AZCentral and they could have offered people continuing coverage of the Suns by him at a point in the franchises history when things should be trending upward but they decide to go a different direction.

Beyond that bad decision though one of the reasons I really liked Bordow's coverage had to do with his coverage on Twitter, where he'd host regular Q&A sessions also. I would imagine working for a company like the Athletic that is charging people to read his work, they won't be happy with him giving away freebies like that on Twitter. That's part of the problem with pay models, they limit their writer's availability and sometimes they end up eliminating what they become known for or at least one of the main reasons people follow them for coverage.

ESPN suffered when they pushed Insider because they took away the content from a lot of good writers and hid it behind a pay wall but not long after they introduced Insider it seemed like they started removing Insider articles more and more to feature Insider Podcasts. That was in the early days of Podcasts and it made some sense why people would pay for those back then but Podcasts are everywhere now. The podcast market is so plentiful now that it seems like paying for access to some would be crazy but it shows how the internet has flipped also. You can listen to podcasts for free but if you hope to read something then you'll need to pay for it. There's been a weird flip over the last decade or so.

You make a lot of good points. When the Athletic did not put Bordow in charge of Suns coverage, they assured I would not be paying for a subscription. It was highly doubtful I would have paid for it anyway but this slammed the door shut.

I miss Bordow's daily coverage of the Suns for nuts and bolts information, e.g., I do not even know if the Suns offered Melton. There is no longer a go-to source for Suns coverage unless something big happens or someone decides to write a perspective article.

Now most of my Suns information comes from Arizona Sports or tweets from a myriad of national writers I find reliable such as Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski. There are some other local news sources such as Gambo on twitter but it is not the day-in, day-out coverage I desire. This has created a void for the fans wanting to follow the Suns more closely.

In the end, the fans are the losers by this trend towards pay internet coverage. I can't help but think there is a trickle down effect that will eventually come back to haunt the Suns.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Stealing or how did you get them for free?

I was always sent a link to download the digital copy of the magazine.

And I just received an email that insider subscribers will be getting ESPN+ with their subscription.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Mainstreet]

I have always been a fan of insider. Got the magazine free (digital and paper) and now am getting ESPN+ for free.

All of the AZCentral stuff is garbage though. They are missing a ton of page views putting Somers and McManaman behind a pay wall. Not worth it.

I disagree to an extent. The azcentral stuff was definitely not garbage when Coro and Bordow covered the Suns. Doug Haller provided some good coverage over there as well.

I'd like to read the Insider and other special ESPN material as well but I'm not going to pay for it. However, I doubt they are going to cover details good local coverage would provide.

 

[Hoop Head]

I was always sent a link to download the digital copy of the magazine.

And I just received an email that insider subscribers will be getting ESPN+ with their subscription.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I think they meant how are you getting all that for free, the magazine, insider, and ESPN+. You weren't clear in your initial post about what service you're using to get those for free. I believe you meant you pay for Insider and get those other things for free but I'm not sure since that's not what you stated.

 

[Hoop Head]

I disagree to an extent. The azcentral stuff was definitely not garbage when Coro and Bordow covered the Suns. Doug Haller provided some good coverage over there as well.

I'd like to read the Insider and other special ESPN material as well but I'm not going to pay for it. However, I doubt they are going to cover details good local coverage would provide.

It's been a while since I've followed ESPN so I don't know who they have writing for them now. I used to like Mark Stein and Chad Ford but I wouldn't pay for either of them. I don't believe Chad Ford still covers the NBA. They just don't have the writers I would pay to read regularly but that could be said about the NBA product as a whole as well. I can't think of many writers I'd pay to read at this point.

Social media fills a huge void if you're looking for other takes. This forum is great for discussions also, even as a lurker who only reads. I did that here for a long time. Sometimes I wish the Suns board had more users but at the same time that's one of the drawbacks of the Suns coverage on Reddit. It's not so much there are too many fans there but there are too many fans who aren't the slightest bit educated on the NBA and don't know a damn thing about the salary cap, trade rules, or basics when it comes to team building.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's been a while since I've followed ESPN so I don't know who they have writing for them now. I used to like Mark Stein and Chad Ford but I wouldn't pay for either of them. I don't believe Chad Ford still covers the NBA. They just don't have the writers I would pay to read regularly but that could be said about the NBA product as a whole as well. I can't think of many writers I'd pay to read at this point.

Social media fills a huge void if you're looking for other takes. This forum is great for discussions also, even as a lurker who only reads. I did that here for a long time. Sometimes I wish the Suns board had more users but at the same time that's one of the drawbacks of the Suns coverage on Reddit. It's not so much there are too many fans there but there are too many fans who aren't the slightest bit educated on the NBA and don't know a damn thing about the salary cap, trade rules, or basics when it comes to team building.

We agree there is some good national coverage for NBA matters with factual articles and tweets.

What I long for is good fact filled local coverage concerning the Suns and discussion. The Suns forum provides the best discussion around. I'm really happy with it but I'd like to add more posters for a variety of takes.

Also what I like about this forum is it puts reality into the equation. Perhaps this is a turnoff for the casual fan although I hope this is not the case. This forum tends to embrace new posters which is a huge positive. I'm still waiting for a surge of posters this coming season.

 

[Mainstreet]

As of now, I consider Kellan Olson the best local reporter covering the Suns.

On the national level reporters like Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania are excellent for NBA and Suns news.

 

[Hoop Head]

Didn't want to start a new thread to ask this so I found this old thread from the offseason to bump. Does anyone subscribe to The Athletic? I'm tempted because it seems they put out a lot of stuff but it may just appear that way since they don't put out any free articles and everything on their site is behind a paywall. I'm sure there are a number of stories that are essentially worthless as far as they just recap a game without any sort of unique coverage that makes their recap better than Yahoo or ESPN and I'm also fairly certain that they put out articles explaining certain deals that go down that don't contain anything I couldn't find in another sites reporting. I'd be interested in this if they really do give a unique point of view with good reporting and a fair amount of content for the NBA regularly, and a few articles a week that discuss the Suns in ways that I can't read about them on AZCentral or ESPN. So if you subscribe to them can you say how it's been?

I know they offer a 7 day free trial and run $9.99 a month but they have an annual subscription right now on sale for $2.99 monthly, which would run about $36 for the year and that seems fair if it's good coverage but I'm not itching to pay if I don't have to.

 

[95pro]

we need to pool some funds together

 

[sunsfan88]

Didn't want to start a new thread to ask this so I found this old thread from the offseason to bump. Does anyone subscribe to The Athletic? I'm tempted because it seems they put out a lot of stuff but it may just appear that way since they don't put out any free articles and everything on their site is behind a paywall. I'm sure there are a number of stories that are essentially worthless as far as they just recap a game without any sort of unique coverage that makes their recap better than Yahoo or ESPN and I'm also fairly certain that they put out articles explaining certain deals that go down that don't contain anything I couldn't find in another sites reporting. I'd be interested in this if they really do give a unique point of view with good reporting and a fair amount of content for the NBA regularly, and a few articles a week that discuss the Suns in ways that I can't read about them on AZCentral or ESPN. So if you subscribe to them can you say how it's been?

I know they offer a 7 day free trial and run $9.99 a month but they have an annual subscription right now on sale for $2.99 monthly, which would run about $36 for the year and that seems fair if it's good coverage but I'm not itching to pay if I don't have to.

I ended up subscribing to it because of their coverage of the Chargers and I must say that it has been well worth it thus far. I’ve only read a handful of Suns articles on there but those have been very well written.

I think they provide more inside information and quotes than others.

I got it on the same discount that you mentioned.

 

[Bada0Bing]

That's good to hear. I'm looking forward to the day when there are several good reporting sources competing for our subscription dollar.

I've gone that route with political reporting and it's well worth it. The model of free material by competing for advertising creates a bunch of trash.

 

[Mainstreet]

It looks like The Athletic is $2.49 a month over Memorial day.

I'd like to talk myself into it but I what I read free does not entice me.

Any new thoughts?

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[Hoop Head]

It looks like The Athletic is $2.49 a month over Memorial day.

I'd like to talk myself into it but I what I read free does not entice me.

Any new thoughts?

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

That's a good deal. I was holding off because I'm not a fan of paying for news but that's $30 a year, which isn't much at all. I was a little worried they would go out of business when they announced their creation last summer but they seem to be going strong. I wish the Suns had a different beat writer though. Gina Mizell isn't terrible but she's not that good either. Scott Bordow covers the Cardinals, so if you're a Cards' fan then that might help make it more worthwhile.