Report: Globe.com Considering Paid Sports Product

By: Jay DeFoore The Boston Globe is testing the idea of an online subscription product centered around local sports teams, according to a post on Boston Phoenix reporter Mark Jurkowitz' Media Log blog.

Jurkowitz got his hands on an e-mail sent to a "subscriber who has agreed to test market Globe ideas."

According to the e-mail, the section would be called Sportsplus and the projected launch date is "early 2006." The theoretical Sportsplus product, free with a subscription to the Globe's print product or $49.95 per year, would include online access to the paper's sports columnists, mp3 interviews with athletes, several blogs, and a bevy of technological bells and whistles.

Similarities to The New York Times' TimesSelect are unmistakable. But Jurkowitz points out an apparent conflict of interest the Globe's parent, The New York Times Co., a partial owner of the Boston Red Sox, might run into by serving up "blogs by players and managers."

"In principle, I'm all for media organizations figuring a way to make money online before too many more newsroom jobs get slashed," Jurkowitz writes. "But with some of these options, we're talking real synergy between the media company and the baseball team in which it has an ownership stake."

If the Globe chooses to go ahead with the Sportsplus, it won't be easy. Earlier this year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution killed its paid sports product after attracting a little more than 3,000 subscribers. AJC.com Editorial Director Hyde Post told E&P the decision was made to free up the sports section for online ad inventory and to take advantage of a recently installed behavioral-targeting ad system.

The newspaper had charged $29.95 per year to access the ajcsportsPlus site, or $15 for print subscribers.

Newspaper Web sites have had largely mixed results when it comes to monetizing their sports content. In 2002, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune launched Purple Plus, a $29.95 subscription product aimed at Vikings fans. But the paper killed the section a year later after failing to get more than 600 paid subscribers.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Packer Insider and Belo's Cowboys Plus have had better success.

The Globe e-mail posted on the Media Log site follows:

The Boston Globe and Boston.com are considering launching a special online section called Sportsplus in early 2006. Sportsplus would be the essential resource for news, opinions and discussion about New England's sports teams, produced daily by the country's best sports writers.
Would potentially include:

a) Daily columns by Bob Ryan, Dan Shaughnessy, Jackie MacMullan or other Boston Globe sports columnists
b) Sports feature stories, pre-game and post-game analysis
c) Sports articles from opposing teams' newspaper web sites
d) Daily Blogs such as Reiss's Pieces, Extra Bases and Net Minders
e) Game-time Blog by Boston Globe reporter
f) Blogs by players and managers
g) Opportunities to submit questions and comments directly to Globe sports writers h) Monthly online chats with sports writers from The Boston Globe
i) MP3 recordings of live interviews
j) An email that alerts you about the subjects of new articles
k) A scrolling banner on the Sportsplus home page that highlights key articles or breaking news
l) Access to archived articles from The Boston Globe, including organized collections of articles
m) Access to archived photos from The Boston Globe, and the ability to create your own photo gallery, screen saver or electronic greeting card
n) Poll other subscribers on subjects chosen by you
o) Opportunities to attend live interviews of players, coaches and managers
p) Opportunities to attend live player panel discussions
q) Opportunities to be in the audience during NESN broadcast tapings
r) Venues for subscribers to meet at games

If this potential product were launched, the exclusive content and access provided through Sportsplus would be available for free to those who subscribe to The Boston Globe printed newspaper. Others could subscribe to Sportsplus for a low monthly or annual fee. Those who do not subscribe to The Boston Globe printed newspaper or the Sportsplus section of Boston.com would no longer have access to Boston Globe sports columnists or the other benefits noted in the previous question through the main Boston.com web site. Based on a fee of $5.95 per month, or $49.95 per year for access to Sportsplus, what would you do?