The 117 year-old weekly sports magazine, The Sporting News, is being forced into a budget crunch. Nearly 20% of their editorial staff has been laid off and sources say the personnel situation was already tight. The move is part of an effort to cut back around $500,000 of expenses for the remainder of the year.
The Sporting News began in 1886 as primarily a baseball magazine, and in 1900 they dedicated the entirety of the publication to this great American past time. In more recent years they have de-emphasized baseball as they tried to grow and popularity shifted to the NFL. But with USA today reporting sports on a daily basis, and Internet sites offering up-to-the-minute reports, the weekly format seems to be lagging behind.
According to columnist Joe Posnanski, “Every week, [TSN] offers stories and notes and rumors and interviews from seven sports [college football and basketball, pro baseball, football, basketball and hockey and NASCAR. They give you more insight into the actual games than any other magazine. They also do the best preview issues anywhere in America.”
This may be true, but it may not be enough.
