I have not been to the Sporting News web site in at least six years. And I haven't read the publication since July 31, 2000. I know that because I just looked up the date that they put together a tremendous issue on athletes and the charities they support.
The truth is that the Sporting News hasn't been relevant since the Internet started and its boxscores and stats at the back were useless. And the acquirers of their assets (first Paul Allen's Vulcan in 2000 and then American City Business Journals in 2006), haven't done anything to jumpstart the brand.
But I visited the Sporting News this morning. Lost in all the hoopla about mainstream media hiring newspaper writers lies the story of online media aggregating the blogging community. ESPN buying up Henry Abbott and of course Jamie Mottram from AOL FanHouse to Yahoo.
Why am I visiting the Sporting News? Because they're making moves that could save them. Dan Shanoff, my former colleague at ESPN.com, and of DanShanoff.com blog fame will have his blog on the site starting Monday.Deadspin's Will Leitch will blog for The Sporting News at the Super Bowl and they've added Spencer Hall of "Every Day Should Be Saturday" and Pro Football Talk's unbelievable scooper Mike Florio.
Their Sporting blog is formatted like FanHouse, which I like. Though I think the formatting and the font needs help, and there's obviously little traffic at this point judging from the comments, I believe they are certainly on their way.
While I'm still not sold on podcasting, I am sold on blogs. Some blogs. Good blogs. It's how many people like to read today. Short, quick, funny, relevant comments instead of full articles.
The next step for The Sporting News is to get all these bloggers radio studios in their homes. It only cost a couple thousand dollars for the lines. And have them host a show called "The Bloggers" on Sporting News Radio.
Questions? Comments? SportsBiz@cnbc.com
