Category Archives: NFL

Sports editors be on alert: ESPN could hire away your NFL writer; plans to have bloggers for every team

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ESPN could rename itself the Raiders. At least when it comes to its latest initiative.

Queue the NFL Films music and Steve Sabol’s famous lines from The Autumn Wind:

He growls as he storms the country,

A villain big and bold.

And the trees all shake and quiver and quake,

As he robs them of their gold.

OK, perhaps that’s a big dramatic. However, you can sure a few sports editors feel as if they lost some of their gold, thanks to ESPN.

ESPN.com plans to have a blogger cover every NFL team this year. And where are they getting those bloggers? In many cases, they are beat writers and columnists from the major newspapers in those towns.

Almost on the hour it seems, there’s another announcement of reporters talking of making the jump.

Yesterday, there was this tweet from Jeff Legwold, now formerly of the Denver Post:

It’s official, I’m excited to join the already deep NFL roster at ESPN. I’ll cover the #Broncos so I don’t actually have to change seats…

Last week, Rob Demovsky, who spent 16 years at Green Bay Gazette, departed to cover the Packers for ESPN. After staying only a month, John Keim left the Washington Post to become ESPN’s Redskins insider.

Keim sent out this amusing tweet:

I’m telling people that Shirley Povich and I combined for 75 years (at the Post).

Yesterday, Rob King, ESPN’s senior vice president for content, digital & print media, told Andrew Beaujon of Poynter, of the plans for ESPN.com. All told 19 writers will be hired to go along with those ESPN already has in place.

From the post:

The idea is basically to give fans more content about the teams they obsess over, King said. ESPN.com Editor-in-Chief Patrick Stiegman looked at the site’s data for how much time users spent on the top 100 teams it covered. Of the 32 teams at the top of that list, 31 were NFL teams.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were the only NFL team that didn’t make that list, King said, but he said ESPN decided to cover all the teams anyway. Had ESPN made a selective foray into more intense local coverage last year — a move he said it considered — it might have skipped covering the Indianapolis Colts, he said. “We would have been absolutely wrong,” he said, citing Andrew Luck’s fantastic 2012 and coach Chuck Pagano’s battle with cancer. “Who’s to say they couldn’t have an incredible season?” King said of the Jaguars.

Here’s where it makes even more sense for ESPN.com. The individual team coverage will be available for free on the site. Meanwhile, many newspapers are behind a pay wall for their content.

From Poynter:

King said ESPN’s motivation is not eating dailies’ lunch; it’s more a matter of filling the “buckets of content” fans expect when they register with the site and say what their favorite teams are.

“We’re not doing that because we’re trying to compete or invade anybody’s market,” he said. “We just feel like the way we build stuff now drives us to getting to this level of coverage.”

Yeah but, those fans only have so much time to devote to reading about their teams. ESPN.com definitely will be looking to make inroads in those markets.

Meanwhile, if you’re a sports editor, it can’t be a good feeling to lose your beat writer or a key member of your staff for the local NFL team just before the start of the season.

And if ESPN.com hasn’t filled its spot for your local team, sports editors should be sure to keep their beat writers extra happy in the upcoming weeks.

 

 

 

 

Chicago news: Hub Arkush launches new Bears website

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The latest from Hub Arkush in the wake of Pro Football Weekly shutting its doors. At first glance, the site looks sharp, and it should keep Arkush plenty busy.

******

Shaw Media today announces the launch of HubArkush.com, a website dedicated to in-depth news and analysis of the Chicago Bears.

Hub Arkush, longtime editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, former Chicago Bears radio analyst and senior football analyst with WSCR-670 The Score in Chicago, leads Shaw Media’s Bears coverage team.

“Our plan for Hubarkush.com is to bring football lovers everywhere the best of what I’ve done at Pro Football Weekly for the last 35 years with a hyper-local focus on the Chicago Bears and the NFC North, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you love football and you love the Chicago area, you’ll love Hubarkush.com.” Arkush said.

Arkush is joined by Bears beat writer Kevin Fishbain and Shaw Media Chicago sports columnist Tom Musick. Together, the team breaks down the Bears position battles heading into camp, introduces the new coaching staff, and offers their veteran insight into the upcoming season.

The site will include video analysis from Arkush and his team throughout the preseason and regular season, and regular fantasy football updates.

“This is an exciting new venture for our company,” said John Rung, president of Shaw Media. “We recognize that people across this region are passionate about football, and we are proud to have Hub Arkush, one of the nation’s leading professional football experts, on our team. Our goal is to provide the most comprehensive source of football information in Northern Illinois.”

 

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Q/A with Peter King on new MMQB site: ‘An attempt to stay ahead of curve and not get crushed by curve’

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Peter King was straining to remember the name of the movie.

“You know the one where Robert Redford runs for office,” he said.

The Candidate?

“Yeah, The Candidate,” King said. “Remember when he wins the election and goes to a top aide, ‘What do I do now?’ That’s how I feel about this.”

This is the launch of King’s new site, MMQB.SI.com. Sports Illustrated officially hit the button to go at 8 a.m. this morning.

It appears to be SI’s version of the Bill Simmons-inspired Grantland with one difference: The content will be limited to the NFL. Much like Grantland, don’t expect to find tick-tock stories on who’s going to start at quarterback in Philly and a mountain of stats.

King explained in a debut post this morning:

We’ll be the thinking person’s site for pro football. If you follow us this season, visit TheMMQB.com three or four times a day between now and the Super Bowl, read our stories, watch our videos and listen to our podcasts … and if after doing that you don’t think you’ve been enlightened about the sport America loves, well, then I should be fired.

Indeed, this is an expansion of King’s highly successful Monday Morning Quarterback concept. SI gave King an open slate and told him to create a site on America’s most popular game.

Here’s the complete rundown in a post last week.

King, 56, says, “We’re all trying to figure out ways to be reinvented.”

Kings’ way is a bit more ambitious than most. I talked with him last week about the goals and hopes for the new site.

This thing is really happening. How does it feel?

It’s a little bit like when I was a kid on the night before opening day. I was a big Red Sox fan and I’d sit there like a nerd and write out the lineups for both teams. Now I’m deciding what stories to run. It’s sort of like making a starting lineup.

It’s different for me. It’s the next thing I was hoping to do. To be able to make some decisions and to run something my way. Fortunately, I have a lot of smart people around to help me.

Why did you want to do your own site?

The ability to say this is what I would like to do and here are the people I would like to do it with.This is an attempt to stay ahead of the curve and not get crushed by the curve.

In 1997, I got asked to do “Monday Morning Quarterback.” They needed content for SI.com. I had no idea it would be as widely read as it was.

That taught me a lot. Any time there is something new offered to you, you better consider it. You don’t know which way the media is going. Pay attention to new trends. If you don’t, you die.

What is your vision for the site?

What I like to do, and part of the excitement in this, is to bring people inside the NFL. Access. If you look at what I’ve done at Sports Illustrated, that’s a big part of it.

(This week), we have a story about a guy who got cut from Jacksonville in June. I asked him if he would do it. He said he really didn’t want to. Then he decided to do it. I think it is riveting. It takes you inside what it is like to be cut by an NFL team.

This is what I want to do: Experiential journalism.

What will a typical day look like for MMQB?

Once we get into the season, we’re going to post new stories or videos, or a combination of both at 8, 11, 2, and 5 (ET). Obviously, if there’s news, we’ll check in. During training camp, we won’t be as tied to the clock.

We’ll have regular features such as a 3 questions, 3 at 3. Our first subject is Joe Namath.

What about statistics and game coverage?

We’re not going to run NFL statistics. There are plenty of places to find that. We’re still talking about how we’re going to cover fantasy football. We don’t know if we’re going to cover games. We’re still making the decision.

It’s all about figuring out what the consumer of the NFL wants. I don’t know what the consumer of the NFL wants, but I have a gut feeling they want us to get to as many games as possible.

You’ve hired three writers (Robert Klemko, Jenny Vrentas and Greg Bedard), two of whom are in their 20s. What does that say about the direction for the site?

They’re young. They have new ideas. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have half of the answers. I want young people telling me this is what we should do. I want their ideas.

You are going to use Richard Deitsch to write about the NFL and media. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but you might have to ride herd on him.

Thanks for the heads up. Richard is going to do a weekly column and then longer pieces about the business. TV and radio, and TV in particular, is how the vast majority of people experience football. We want to make sure he has the opportunity to do the stories he wants to do.

You had options to go to other places. How important was getting the site in your decision to stay at Sports Illustrated?

I could have done this elsewhere. Sports Illustrated wasn’t the only place that gave me the opportunity.

I have a loyalty to Sports Illustrated. I know why I am where I am. I wouldn’t be in this position if not for the platforms Sports Illustrated allowed me to have. Sports Illustrated is the right place to do this.

This is all new. Do you envision the site might look different a year from now?

We’re still making a lot of decisions. We’re still a work in progress. We want to make sure we don’t repeat mistakes if we think we’re making them.

You mentioned The Candidate in talking about this new site. Does that mean Robert Redford will play you in the movie version?

Of course.

 

MMQB: Peter King’s new NFL site makes it debut Monday

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You will want to check this out if you are an NFL fan, or a Peter King fan for that matter. Looks very promising.

I will have a Q/A with King on Monday. Until then, here’s the release from Sports Illustrated with the details about the new site.

*******

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED today introduced “The MMQB” (TheMMQB.com), a new, digital franchise edited by award-winning SI senior writer Peter King that is devoted to NFL coverage. The franchise, an offshoot of King’s popular Monday Morning Quarterback column, will deliver insight, access and analysis from a team of reporters that will set a paradigm for future multimedia NFL coverage.

“We are aiming to be the thinking man’s website dedicated to covering the NFL in a more modern way,” said King. “We will combine the great SI storytelling style with an added emphasis on video, social media and photography.”

King, who will continue to write Monday Morning Quarterback in addition to producing other stories and videos each week, will be joined by SI newcomers Greg Bedard, Robert Klemko and Jenny Vrentas to form the nucleus of The MMQB editorial team. Bedard will focus on trends in the game and write a weekly Friday notes column. Vrentas will write feature articles and contribute regularly on the critical health, safety and legal issues confronting the NFL. Klemko will concentrate on the league’s most important news stories and go inside the lives of players off the field. “10 Things I Think I Think”, a well-known component of King’s MMQB column, will become a Monday through Friday feature, put together by various writers with many of the entries fewer than 140 characters to encourage sharing on Twitter. And for a feature called “3@3”, an NFL player, coach or executive will respond to three questions, which will be posted Monday through Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

Other regular contributors include SI media reporter Richard Deitsch, who will look at how the NFL is covered and how it interacts with fans through media; SI senior writer Don Banks will dive into the league’s hottest issues on and off the field in a column called “The Conscience”; SI senior writer Jim Trotter’s column “The Takeaway” will focus on what’s happening on the West Coast; and former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt will write a weekly column that provides insights into the business of football and the inner workings of NFL front offices. In addition, SI’s video group will fully support TheMMQB.com by producing short- and long-form original stories and companion pieces using the site’s entire editorial team.

The MMQB.com was developed by Time Inc. / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and utilizes a responsive design that optimizes the user experience across mobile and desktop platforms with deep integration to social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The forward-looking design allows users to easily access the “river” of content to keep up to date on the latest stories and videos as well as find and search archived content.

“We’re thrilled to launch another digital franchise under the Sports Illustrated umbrella, especially one being led by our most popular writer about the most popular sport,” said Paul Fichtenbaum, the Editor of the Time Inc. Sports Group. “In many ways this represents a natural evolution for us.”

Jeff Saturday joins ESPN as resident Peyton Manning expert

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After playing 172 games with the now Denver quarterback, Jeff Saturday should be more than qualified to know what makes him tick.

From ESPN:

Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday has joined ESPN as an NFL analyst. The 14-year NFL veteran will appear on NFL Live and SportsCenter and contribute to other ESPN platforms. He will make his debut next week with three days of appearances, July 17-19.

Saturday, who visited ESPN as a guest analyst in March, spent 13 years with the Indianapolis Colts (1999-2011) before playing his final season with the Green Bay Packers in 2012. Though he entered the league as an undrafted free agent, Saturday was a fixture on the Colts teams that won Super Bowl XLI and represented the AFC in Super Bowl XLIV. He was named by Sporting News to the NFL All-Decade Team (2000-09) and achieved first-team All-Pro honors twice (2005, 2007).

Saturday and Peyton Manning started an NFL record 172 games together as a center-quarterback duo. Over a decade-long period with the club, Saturday anchored a Colts offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the league (242), and his 132 career wins as a Colt are second only to Manning (141) in franchise history.

In addition to teaming with the four-time NFL MVP quarterback in Indianapolis, Saturday played his final season under center with 2011 NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. He earned his sixth Pro Bowl appearance there and helped the Packers capture the NFC North title. He signed a one-day contract with Indianapolis in March to officially retire as a Colt.

“Offensive linemen make some of the best analysts because they understand the nuances of the game and they typically have fun personalities — Jeff definitely fits this mold,” said senior coordinating producer Seth Markman, who oversees ESPN’s NFL studio shows. “It’s also no accident he played center for two NFL MVPs in Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.”

Added Saturday: “I look forward to joining ESPN, which is the premier sports network. I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Mushnick on Dave Jennings: Lived and died with dignity

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Phil Mushnick in the New York Post wrote a nice tribute to Dave Jennings, the former New York Giants punter, who went on to become a radio analyst for the Jets and Giants. Jennings, 61, died Wednesday due to Parkinson’s Disease.

Mushnick writes:

Jennings was beyond remarkable; he was extraordinary, as brave and as stoical as any innocent condemned to the gallows. And Jennings suffered — quietly, increasingly — from Parkinson’s for nearly 20 years.

“He never complained, not a word,” said ESPN broadcaster Bob Picozzi, tight with Jennings since 1977, when Jennings, the Giants’ fourth-year punter, began to seriously pursue a sportscasting career, co-hosting Picozzi’s Connecticut radio show.

“He just didn’t like talking about it. It was his problem, and no one else’s. He’d just say he’s doing fine, then politely change the subject. He’d make it easy on you.”

Mushnick thought Jennings should have been on the network stage:

Jennings was the most prepared NFL analyst I ever heard on TV or radio. He not only dutifully attended practices to find out what was up with the Jets (1988-2001) and then the Giants (2002-08), he went deep — he knew the NFL rulebook far better, I’m sure, than any radio or TV analyst — not that many bothered or today bother to learn then apply the rules to the games they work.

Jennings was my go-to guy for any and all rules. We’d talk rules for hours, especially those that made little sense or were most butchered by big-ticket network experts. He was so far ahead of the rest that it seemed insane that no national NFL TV network would hire him to work its games.

“It’s not my call,” said Jennings, who never — not even once — campaigned for a national TV gig through this column. On and off the air, he was a straight-talker, not a self-promoter.

Of course, no matter how well he might have served a network’s TV audiences, Jennings was a former punter, not a former quarterback. Quarterbacks get the girls, the endorsements and the TV gigs. Whether they’ll be any good at it doesn’t much matter because there’s no shortage of freshly retired QBs.

 

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Bengals again? Choice suggests NFL Films running out of teams for Hard Knocks

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A show of hands for those who want to see the Cincinnati Bengals appear on Hard Knocks for the second time in five years.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m fairly sure the feeling is mutual at NFL Films and HBO.

Yes, the Bengals have a good, solid young team. But they don’t have Chad Johnson for comic relief/nonsense anymore, or any big stars for that matter, and coach Marvin Lewis hardly is Rex Ryan.

So why the Bengals for an encore of their 2009 appearance? The answer seems rather obvious: NFL Films and HBO might have had another choice, or at the very least, limited options.

Despite the press release below, I can’t believe Cincinnati was the first pick or even the 30th to do the series. They were just featured fairly recently.

The wish list had to center on teams with much higher profiles and with bigger stars. How about Denver with Peyton Manning? Washington and the return of RGIII? New Orleans with Sean Payton back on the sidelines?

Do you think for a minute, NFL Films said, “No, we’d rather have the Bengals.”

Clearly, those teams and others don’t want the intrusion of cameras in their training camps. It’s a huge obstacle that could threaten the continuation of the series. If more teams aren’t willing to open their doors, there won’t be a Hard Knocks in the future.

Thus far, only six teams have agreed to do the show: Baltimore (2001), Dallas (2002, 2008), Kansas City (2007), New York Jets (2010), Miami (2012), and Cincinnati (2009, 2013).

The Bengals likely signed on again because they want to increase their profile nationally as well as at home. That definitely was the case last year with Miami, which burdened first-year coach Joe Philbin with the distractions that come with filming Hard Knocks.

I love the series. Even with another dose of the Bengals, I’m sure the producers will deliver another compelling set of shows.

However, in order for the series to survive, the NFL has to get more teams to buy in. Don’t think anyone wants another Bengals encore in 2014.

******

Here is the official release, full of enthusiasm for the Bengals:

HBO Sports, NFL Films and the Cincinnati Bengals team up for an all-access look at what it takes to make it in the National Football League when HARD KNOCKS:  TRAINING CAMP WITH THE CINCINNATI BENGALS debuts in August.  The first sports-based reality series – and one of the fastest-turnaround programs on television – kicks off its five-episode eighth season, presented in HD, TUESDAY, AUG. 6 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.  Other hour-long episodes debut subsequent Tuesdays at the same time, with an encore play every Wednesday at 11:00 p.m., culminating in the Sept. 3 season finale.

“We are delighted that Hard Knocks will be returning this summer and excited for our return to the AFC Central and the Cincinnati Bengals franchise,” says Ken Hershman, President, HBO Sports. “With playoff appearances three of the past four seasons, the Bengals have built a terrific young team and we are extremely grateful to both Coach Marvin Lewis and the entire organization for agreeing to participate. The series has become captivating television with appeal far beyond the hardcore football fan.  Hard Knocks is a cornerstone franchise at HBO Sports.”

“We’re thrilled to again work with both the Cincinnati Bengals and HBO Sports,” said Howard Katz, COO of NFL Films and NFL Senior Vice President of Broadcasting.  “In particular, we want to thank Mike Brown for the trust he’s shown in NFL FILMS by allowing us access into Bengals training camp. This year’s Bengals squad provides us with a compelling combination of unique storylines:  a veteran coaching staff, young superstars, high-profile free agents and an intriguing draft class. We can’t wait to see what will take place this year and look forward to collaborating with HBO which has been the perfect partner for us since Hard Knocks debuted 12 seasons ago.”

The cinema verité series will focus on the daily lives and routines of players and coaches as the Cincinnati Bengals, who compete in the ultra-competitive AFC Central, prepare for the 2013 NFL season.  HARD KNOCKS:  TRAINING CAMP WITH THE CINCINNATI BENGALS will chronicle eleventh-year head coach Marvin Lewis and an intriguing mix of high-profile veterans, emerging stars, free agents and rookie hopefuls throughout training camp and the four-game preseason schedule.  Each week, players will experience drills, instruction, meetings and fun, while striving to prove they have what it takes to make the team and leave their mark in the NFL.

“The feedback we got from our experience with Hard Knocks in 2009 was outstanding,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “Our fans enjoyed it tremendously and we’re happy to try and provide that same experience again. Our fans love the NFL and they enjoy seeing things they don’t normally get to see. We have some outstanding men, both as players and as people. They’ve got great charisma to go along with their football skills, and the Hard Knocks treatment allows for both to shine through.”

Lewis added: “Some people say, ‘Well, you won the division the last time you did this; is that a reason for doing it again?’ I really don’t think that matters or figures much into the decision. Every day, every time is a new experience. As coaches and players, we just go into it knowing we have to do our jobs to the utmost. We have a grueling schedule, and expectations are very high, particularly among ourselves. We’ve got to take a workmanlike attitude from the very start.  Hard Knocks is another element you have to be prepared to deal with. The NFL Films people are totally professional, so that’s not a worry, but it’s not like a normal day. One thing I did see as a positive last time was exposing our players to another group of people who are working hard every day the way we need to work. The diligence and the effort of the people on-site is very impressive.”

A 24-person NFL Films crew will live in the city of Cincinnati as the Bengals will hold camp at Paul Brown Stadium, shooting more than 1,250 hours of footage shot over the course of the series.  Camera and sound crews will be given unencumbered access to the players’ and coaches’ meeting rooms, training rooms, living quarters and practice fields.

Last summer’s edition of HARD KNOCKS marked the first time the series premiered on Tuesday nights and it proved to be a resounding success; the five-part prime-time series on the resurgent Miami Dolphins averaged 4.1 million viewers per episode making it the second most watched HARD KNOCKS in a decade.

 

 

 

 

Report: Bengals next up for HBO’s Hard Knocks

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It will be the second time in five years for the Bengals.

From John Reedy of the Cincinnati.com:

While the series has been popular with football fans because of the inside access it gives them, it is the bane of existence for head coaches. Only one other team had expressed serious interest in appearing.

The Bengals were the team in 2009 and won the AFC North with a 10-6 record. When asked over the past couple years about possibly doing the series again, coach Marvin Lewis has been leery of making a return, but with a young team and a more mature locker room, this might be a good time to do it again.

However, the reasons why Lewis did the series four years ago could ring true this time — he has a young but mature roster and he feels like they can handle it. It will also give Andy Dalton and A.J. Green more national recognition.

 

Here comes the deluge: Another round of Tebow mania for ESPN, everyone else

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For those of us who are sick of Tebow mania, which I assume is everyone not named Skip Bayless, nothing could be worse than the most over-hyped player ever signing with the genius in New England.

Bayless had this tweet last night: “Saving all my thoughts on TEBOW for 10E ESPN2 live from The Hard Rock in San Antonio (9 Central). I’m going to UNLEASH on Stephen A.”

Yikes.

To be fair to Bayless and ESPN, it isn’t just them. On the eve of a Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final, sports talk radio in Chicago was buzzing about Tebow yesterday. Most talk in this town for a quarterback not named Cutler.

Meanwhile, they are obviously bracing for the deluge in Boston, as evidenced by the front page of the Boston Herald. On the eve of the beloved Bruins playing in the Stanley Cup, Tebow mania was the talk of the town Tuesday, and will be for some quite time.

As a public service, Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger, who had a full dose of Tebow with the Jets, offers five tips to the Boston media on how to cover this nonsense.

He writes:

Congratulations! Tim Tebow is signing with the Patriots and, on behalf of the chroniclers of his short-lived career with the Jets, I wanted to send along an extra large bottle of ibuprofen and a few tips for how to cover him properly.

I know, I know. Right now, you’re probably thinking something crazy like “he’s a third-string quarterback, why would I waste my time covering him at all?” You’ll get over that. You’ll get sucked in like all of us down here did, becoming hopeless and happy slaves to the Tebow Hype Machine.

And…

Tip 2: Everything he does is news. A post-practice shirtless run in the rain? News. A blind quote from a teammate questioning his ability as quarterback? Big news. He lines up as a running back in practice … while shirtless? Twitter will explode.

And….

Tip 4: Tom Brady is finished. Okay, not really. But someday, right? So don’t let things like “facts” get in your way of wild speculation about what the organization might do with their newest asset.

Try writing a column that’ll fit under this headline: “Will Tebow take over when Brady retires?” That’ll get you at least four appearance on a variety of ESPN2 shows, and eternal damnation.

Duck and cover everyone.

 

Posted in NFL

Q/A with Hub Arkush: On what happened to Pro Football Weekly; how brand still might return in some form

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During its peak, Pro Football Weekly was a must-have for NFL fans. The Houston Chronicle’s Lance Zierlein summed it up in a nice tribute:

When it came to football information and updated news, nobody beat PFW for years. This was the one publication that lived and breathed football at every waking moment before there were so many outlets doing it. As a sports society, many fans transitioned from football to basketball to baseball (some to hockey) seamlessly, from season to season. The hardcore fans had a chance to follow football year-round thanks to PFW.

What made PFW cool to me back in the ’80s and ’90s was that they were able to give you an overview of the entire league, but they were still able to devote space to your own favorite team. They were unique in that way. You could get the macro and the micro view in that magazine and you always felt like you were getting info from true insiders.

Yet that was then. Yesterday in my Chicago Tribune column, I wrote about why Pro Football Weekly had to shut its doors last week. Here is more from the Q/A I did with Hub Arkush, the magazine’s editor and publisher.

What happened?

Our corporate parent (Gatehouse Media) saw us as an opportunity to experiment in new media. Something they could monetize with a popular subject that is the NFL. In 2010, they invested $2 million in the new media operation. We got everything you’re supposed to have for the next wave.

People loved everything we were doing. We were projected to have 750,000 mobile app users. We had 1.3 million. We were projected to have 150 million video views. We had 260 million. We tripled the traffic on our website.

The problem is, nobody wanted to pay for it. The initial projection was that we would get 40-60 percent in paid apps. Well, 98 percent were free. People will pay for games, but not content.

We wanted to charge 99 cents per month, or something like that. We found out that people don’t want their credit cards floating out there. We found tremendous resistance.

In video, we generated the same numbers all the big guys are trading on. You would think advertisers would line up. We sold 10 percent of what we were projected to sell.

How frustrating was it?

That’s the hard part of all this. We beat every projection in terms of content and delivery. These pay walls don’t work. Nobody wants to pay (for content).

What about the magazine?

In this marketplace, I don’t see how you can make it as a magazine. It isn’t just us. We’re no different than The Sporting News or Newsweek. The weekly print model doesn’t work.

What happens from here?

I have been contacted by people who are interested in putting together a group to purchase (the assets) and have some version of Pro Football Weekly. There is tremendous equity in the Pro Football Weekly brand. If there was a new version, it would have to be more of a daily news gathering operation.

When things get quiet in the next couple of weeks, we’ll try to figure out what comes next.

What about the legacy of the magazine?

I think about my dad (Arthur) every day. He graduated from DePaul, and even played for Ray Meyer. He went to the Sun-Times, where he was a crime reporter. (In the mid-60s), he saw the NFL merger was coming and that football was going to be popular. He had the vision. When he launched the magazine (in 1967), the only employee was his mother, Rose. She was a talented bookkeeper.

When he died in 1979, I was 25, and my brother, Dan, was 26. We had no idea what we were doing, but we knew it was a dream of his to do this. Dan and I both met our wives at Pro Football Weekly. I guess we broke the rule of not dating employees.

We did have some success. We had two principles. We believe in journalism. We believe you had to be right, honest, and fair. The second principle is that we were a family business. We wanted the readers to be part of that extended family. Whenever there was an issue that impacted the game, we approached it from the angle of what does this mean for the fans? What is best for them? I think that’s why the audience we had was as devoted as they were.

What has the past few months been like for you and your family?

It’s been a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s been our entire family’s entire life. On the other hand, it has taken a tremendous toll on certain members of the family. It would be irresponsible not to take a step back and evaluate what we want to do.

The outpouring of support has surprised me. When you publish for 46 years, you reach hundreds of thousands in print and I suppose millions in broadcast. You don’t think about how many people are reading and listening when you’re doing it. You just hope you do it right.