The genesis of hard-hitting, analytical sports business coverage

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Abe Madkour is the executive editor of the Sports Business Journal, an American City Business Journals publication that covers sports like it was an industry, focusing on contracts, deals, people losing jobs and other business-related news.

For example, one of the main stories on its website Tuesday was one detailing how NFL owners OKed the creation of a venture capital fund.

Madkour has seen sports business news coverage evolve. He started at the Sports Business Daily back in 1994 when it operated out of a Victorian home in Falls Church, Va. Since then, the Daily has been acquired in 1998 by ACBJ, which added the Journal. Both are now considered among the best publications covering sports business news.

The Sports Business Journal, which has its main office in Charlotte, has more than 80 reporters and editors, and an estimated 54,000 readers each week.  It covers the major business segments that make up the sports business industry — including marketing, sponsorship, media, facilities, agents and labor, and finance.

To give you an idea of who reads the publication, 30 percent of the Sports Business Journal’s readers work for a company that sponsors sports, and 45 percent review sports marketing agency contracts on an annual or semi-annual basis.

Madkour talked to Talking Biz News by e-mail this week about sports business coverage and the Daily and the Journal. What follows is an edited transcript.

How did you get interested in covering sports from a business angle?

In the early 1990s, I was working in Washington, D.C. for U.S. Sen. Pat Leahy and also doing work for the Washington Bullets and Baltimore Orioles. I read about a start-up publication focusing on sports business and applied. I was familiar with a similar publication on politics and knew the impact and influence it had on The Hill, so I knew there would be a market for it.

At the time the Daily started, how did it drive interest in its content?

It started as a daily fax. It would be faxed to our readers at 12 pm ET every day, so they would have it in time for lunch. We were disciplined in that it was never over 15 pages; we wanted to keep it manageable. No one had experienced a product that aggregated content like we were doing on a daily basis – news from every major market in North America by 12 p.m. that same day. It immediately had a very loyal audience among to the top decision makers in the sports business.

What was the Daily doing that other media were not in terms of covering sports business?

Covering the coverage – we were aggregating news and information on a daily basis, pulling sources together from all over North America and compiling a very effective executive news briefing by 12 p.m. ET every day. We were modeled after The Political Hotline, but no one was doing this in the sports business, and it proved to be a very valuable information tool for those subscribing. Aggregation is now done every day by various news outlets, but The Daily still provides unique depth and breadth of coverage.

How has sports business coverage changed since the Daily launched in 1994?

It’s much more professional, more frequent, more a daily news staple than it ever was. It’s now a ‘beat,’ and there were very few covering pure sports business in the early 1990s.

What’s your opinion about sports business coverage these days, not just at your publications?

Very competitive and strong. Some very, very talented reporters cover this beat on a daily basis.

Why don’t more media cover sports as a business?

Many don’t feel there is reader interest and newsroom budgets are tight these days. If they don’t feel a beat has widespread consumer interest, they are not likely to invest in that coverage area.

Is the problem that you’ve got sports reporters writing about contracts, union negotiations and sponsorship rights?

Sports reporters are skilled enough to write about those issues, and oftentimes business writers are also picking up that area of coverage. Oftentimes, local business writers are the ones out front on stadium development or facility news, so the coverage areas can be spread out.

How does the Sports Business Journal and the Daily differentiate itself from others who cover sports business?

We position ourselves as the market leaders in sports business news and information. It’s all that we cover; it’s our sole focus and we’re committed to producing focused news and information that the sports business professional needs to know in order to make more informed business decisions.

What is the Sports Business Journal and the Daily doing to improve its coverage?

We are looking at trends and growth areas of the business that haven’t been featured. What are the growth areas our readers may not be aware of? Why should they be paying attention to them and how could it impact their business. In addition, we need to expand the areas of our coverage – think more globally and how the business of sports is growing around the world.

We also can always do a better job telling stories about people. The sports business is rooted in relationships and people love to learn about other successful executives. Also, telling more stories via video, podcasts and in short-form broadband programming is an area we’re focused on.