There have been no shortage of magazines catered to professional athletes over the past couple years. The most recent entry famously published by Lenny Dykstra called The Players Club fell flat on its face after financial troubles.
But that isn’t stopping a private investor from trying to get into the space. The anonymous backer has tabbed Michael Dolan, a former editor at Conde Nast, Details and Maxim, to run the magazine called Athletes Quarterly.
“We feel like there’s space for a magazine that talks about issues relevant to the athlete culture — security, real estate, building a legal team,” Dolan said.
Unlike others, Dolan said the magazine will be mailed out to 20,000 athletes’ homes four times a year instead of just sitting in locker rooms.
Advertisers for the first issue, which went out this week, are CharityBuzz, Marquis Jets and General Cigars. Even with those three advertisers, Dolan says the magazine is already profitable. With a reader averaging in the $2 million salary range, Dolan says there’s no shortage of high-end products to pitch in his magazine.
The first issue is 132 pages and some of the features are written by current and former athletes. New York Giants offensive tackle David Diehl has a story on choosing a charity to support while former Duke point guard Jay Williams pens a piece on what it’s like to make a comeback in life.
Even though the fight against Manny Pacquiao didn’t turn out, Floyd Mayweather is on the cover. The story talks about Mayweather’s genius at selling fights.
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