Sports Biz Journals’ Madkour on covering the business of sports

Abe Madkour

Russell Sherman of the “Press Profiles” podcast interviewed Abe Madkour, publisher and executive editor of the Sports Business Journal, about his publication and career.

“Sports can be a business driver. Sports can help deliver unbelievable relationships,” says Madkour. “…There’s so many elements that I find fascinating.”

Madkour’s says his philosophy is that his publication’s reporters should not be in the press box watching the game, but should be in the suite with the owners and executives. He says they should “fly at a different level.”

He said foreign investment in U.S. sports is currently a major story his publication is following, as well as the changing landscape in intercollegiate athletics.

His first job in sports was charting assists and rebounds and other statistics for the Washington Bullets, now known as the Wizards.

The publication started as a daily fax that aggregated sports business news. American City Business Journals acquired it in 1998.

To listen, go here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.